A new massage franchise venture led by UK Spa Association chair Charlie Thompson and Elliot Walker, former managing director of Murad UK, is set to open in Camberley, England, on 18 March.

The first The Massage Company location will have 14 treatment rooms over two floors, and will offer a simple selection of four massage treatments: deep tissue, sports, Swedish and maternity. Four optional treatment upgrades include hot stones, scalp massage, aromatherapy and a Fantastic Foot Treatment.

The Massage Company plans to bring the monthly membership model – which has met with much success in the US – to the UK, offering memberships starting at £44.95 per month, which would include one 50-minute massage.

“We’re building massage as a routine part of lifestyle,” said Thompson. “We’re changing the way that people view massage in the UK, and bringing it to the mainstream.”

The company has also brought on John Holman as director of massage training; Holman has developed The Massage Company Training Programme, an advanced-post-graduate qualification with a series of new massage techniques specifically created to project therapists’ joints, said Thompson.

The Massage Company will be open seven days a week, and has also partnered with Premier Core Software for online bookings as well as management of the membership system, database, daily transactions and financial compliance.

Once they get the Camberley flagship up and running, Thompson and Walker hope to have another site open by late 2016 or early 2017 and then to expand as a national brand.

Franchisees will have the buy-in to the brand, organisational support, software systems, digital systems, a structured sales and marketing plan to guide them through pre-opening and opening, recruitment and access to the company’s supply chain.