The Fast-Food Exec Taking Her Real Estate Talents To The Looksmaxxing Era

For most of the 2010s, American food culture seemed stuck on one setting: supersized.

Milkshakes became architectural feats, bakeries turned out rainbow bagels that New Yorkers look back on with varying degrees of shame, and bacon became a food group of its own, thanks in part to the YouTube sensation Epic Meal Time. 

The decade concluded with the chicken sandwich wars, a marketing trend that led dozens of fast-food chains to add fried chicken sandwiches to their menus. The craze was so pervasive that it caused a poultry shortage. 

Anne Goldman — who spent 20 years developing real estate for some of the largest restaurant brands, including Krispy Kreme, Popeyes and Dave’s Hot Chicken — was there for it all. 

Then, just as weight-loss drugs began to reshape the retail landscape, she got a call from Image Studios, a company that provides private salon suite rentals — essentially coworking for beauty, health and wellness concepts.

“I’m like, ‘I’ll interview. They’re not going to be interested. We’ll move on,’” Goldman said. “I did not exude that beauty segment.”

She got an offer two weeks later. In May, she embarked on her career in beauty as the company’s vice president of real estate. Her career pivot mirrors consumer habits, which are shifting away from fast-food indulgences and toward health and wellness.

Goldman may not wear 20-inch hair extensions or a full-glam face of makeup, but she knows real estate — and real estate is what Image needs. 

Image operates as a franchise model, similar to that in the food and hospitality industry. The company helps local operators build turnkey studios to rent out to businesses ranging from hair stylists and nail technicians to massage therapists and tattoo artists.

There are more than 140 Image Studios across the country and an existing development pipeline that would more than double its footprint. It plans to open 50 new locations each year under Goldman. 

“It’s an interesting segment,” Goldman said. “Health and beauty, it’s become this new hot spot.”

‘Relentless Pursuit’

Image’s expansion coincides with a shift in American consumerism. 

Roughly 1 in 5 U.S. households as of May contained a user of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, according to a PwC survey. The number of users is expected to grow further, from approximately 16 million today to as many as 35 million by 2030, according to a BCG report.

The lifestyle change means that 61% of those on the medication find themselves buying fewer sweets and 56% are eating fewer salty snacks, PwC found. Alcohol purchases, which make up 21% of sales for full-service restaurants and 6% for limited-service operations, have dropped by 12%.

A third of the money the average GLP-1 user previously spent on food gets reallocated to other purchases, according to BCG. Nearly 20% of users are instead spending on aesthetics, including makeup and other beauty goods, or services like hair care or skin-tightening.

“It’s the relentless pursuit of personal perfection,” retail consultant Kate Newlin said. “People get close to what they thought was going to be the solution — ‘I now weigh what I was when I was a freshman in college, but my body isn’t the same.’ It creates new problems that money can also help solve.”

Even before the rise in GLP-1s, retail was becoming more experiential as apparel sales transitioned to online. New wellness niches emerged, including luxury spas and sports facilities like pickleball venues. 

In the same vein, social media has become less about showing off individual products and increasingly about influencers selling a lifestyle. 

“There was a huge change in how people spent their money from accumulating objects to accumulating experiences,” Capricorn Retail Advisors principal Max Talpalar said. “The newest step is self-improvement.”

A decade ago, wellness was essentially a gym — and a gym was seen as a second-tier, low-paying tenant. Since then, companies in the health and wellness space have been pushed to the top of developers’ lists of desirable anchors.

“These developers are chasing the big fitness brands because they know that people are spending a lot of time and spending a lot of money, and they are great shoppers at their properties or they’re great residents at their towers,” Talpalar said. “It used to be you wanted a clothing store in there, but it’s not as cool anymore.”

The first Image Studio opened its doors in 2010, years before weight-loss drugs came to the market. But a building filled with a variety of beauty professionals is positioned well in the current retail environment.

“Not one company can supply all [beauty services],” Newlin said. “But if we identify the demand and figure out how to reach these folks, we know they’ll have a recurring need.”

Boots On The Ground

Enter a fast-food kitchen, and it isn’t uncommon to see an owner flipping burgers or scooping ice cream. 

Food franchisees are typically full-time managers, owning and operating multiple locations at the same time. The crowd is different in the beauty and wellness space, which tends to be more hands-off for owners. 

In her new role, Goldman finds herself working with more couples on the edge of retirement. They already have established careers at companies like Pfizer, AT&T and Amazon, and they are looking for a second source of income to support them in their old age, she said.

Many of her new franchisees have never negotiated a lease. Some come to the table anxious, at which point it is Goldman’s job to explain how the world of retail leasing works in pragmatic terms.

“I have said to some people, ‘You’ve got to be patient,’” Goldman said. “There are certain points in the real estate world where things slow down, and I’m trying to [explain that to] people who are in finance. They’re like, ‘But we could never do this.’”

It isn’t just the end of August when emails stop getting answered because developers and brokers head out on vacation. It is also the time around industry conferences, like ICSC, or holidays, including Hanukkah and Christmas.

Since franchisees often have primary jobs, Goldman also finds herself working around new schedules.

“In the restaurant world, it’s much different,” Goldman said. “I don’t call during lunch, and I don’t call during dinnertime.”

But some things remain the same.

Beauty studios may not need industrial freezers, but they do need specific utilities and ventilation systems, similar to a restaurant. 

Image’s ideal real estate is approximately 5,500 SF, which accommodates between 25 and 35 studios. It is looking to grow across the continental U.S., excluding a handful of states where the company has maxed out for the time being. Those include Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and the Dakotas.

Goldman has led national and global expansions before. She was behind the deal for Krispy Kreme’s Times Square flagship, a 4,500 SF doughnut factory that can pump out more than 4,500 glazed treats an hour. 

She still gets WhatsApp messages from a broker named Yevgeny, with whom she worked on Krispy Kreme deals in Russia. He shares pictures of his son, who was a toddler when they worked together. He’s a teenager now.

“It’s so funny because Yevgeny spoke little to no English,” Goldman said. “But I’m always amazed in Russia and in the Philippines — give them a Frank Sinatra song, and they can sing it perfectly.”

Her connections from fast food have come in handy. She connected one Image franchisee with a broker she worked with from her days at Dave’s. Earlier in the week, some former Popeyes colleagues texted, saying they would be visiting Raleigh, North Carolina, where Goldman lives.

She recently toured a site in Pasadena, California, for a potential Image location. She didn’t really need to — it was a former Dave’s ghost kitchen. 

“[Image Chief Operating Officer] Taylor Lamont went with me on a couple of site tours, and he was like, ‘I don’t know how you know all these people,’” Goldman said. “It’s a function of years of being in the business.”

Evolution

Running beneath the shifting retail landscape is the persistent drumbeat of inflation concerns. 

Many economists argue that a K-shaped economy has emerged, where top-income households experience growth in wealth and spending, while lower-income Americans tighten their belts, buying less.

Yet spending has only grown when it comes to the beauty industry. Both prestige and mass retail beauty sales increased by 7% in the first half of the year, according to retail goods data firm Circana, continuing momentum from 2025.

The trend reflects the lipstick index, a theory that consumers will trade expensive luxuries, like vacations, for more affordable indulgences, like makeup, during economic downturns.

Earlier this month, Image closed its first acquisition with skincare franchise Clean Your Dirty Face — Goldman laughs while explaining the concept, saying that people either love or hate the name. Both brands now sit under holding company Gorgeous Collective. 

Clean Your Dirty Face is a facial bar that offers low-cost services, such as a $55 monthly membership that includes a facial and product discounts. There are more than 35 locations open or under development. 

“You have to understand that this is a different segment,” Goldman said, adding that she is still curious to see if Clean Your Dirty Face resonates the same way in high-income areas of the country. 

But where on the spectrum of extravagances do blowouts, tattoos or Botox injections fit? 

“That’s the $64K question in this economic environment,” Newlin said.