An eastern suburbs mum says she faces financial ruin after being ‘sold a dream’ of running her own cosmetic clinic – only for it to turn into a nightmare.
Lana Shine became a Body Sculpting Clinic franchisee at its Westfield Bondi Junction location in 2021, contributing 25 per cent of the start-up capital while the franchisor funded the remaining 75 per cent.
In addition, she served as the de facto brand ambassador for the clinic – which offers non-surgical cosmetic treatments including Botox and filler, fat freezing and cellulite reduction – by appearing front and centre in national marketing campaigns.
But her franchise was put into liquidation on July 17, and now Ms Shine, who is a single mother of two children, says she is $1million in debt.
She is pointing the finger of blame at Body Sculpting Clinic management for leaving her high and dry – a claim the business categorically denies.
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Lana Shine became a Body Sculpting Clinic franchisee at its Westfield Bondi Junction location in 2021, contributing 25 per cent of the start-up capital. She now says she is $1million in debt after the business went into administration
‘This was pitched to me as a fast track to financial freedom,’ an emotional Ms Shine told me, clearly shaken by her ordeal.
She claimed she’d been shown ‘spreadsheets’ and ‘margins’ indicating the business could give her the life she’d always dreamt of.
But what was promised as a golden opportunity soon became a financial black hole.
And to make matters worse, a week after her business was shuttered, Body Sculpting Clinics opened a new outlet metres away on level six of the shopping centre.
To her dismay, she heard customers had been told the clinic had merely ‘relocated due to Westfield construction’ and was under ‘new management’.
Ms Shine also claims her old equipment – seized when the business went into administration – was later snapped up at a discount at auction, then installed at the new location.
She said seeing the business she poured her heart and soul into simply ‘start again’ a stone’s throw away – ‘like nothing ever happened’ – was agonising.
Ms Shine alleges she was left to carry the burden of huge financial liabilities after signing a $500,000 lifeline loan to cover the clinic’s post-Covid cashflow struggles, only for the original director of the Bondi Junction outlet to resign.
Body Sculpting Clinics was co-founded by Ben and Dominika Gialouris. ‘We complied fully with the Franchise Code of Conduct,’ Ben tells us in response to Ms Shine’s complaints
Ben Gialouris is co-founder and CEO of the premium non-surgical powerhouse
‘Suddenly, I became the sole director and guarantor.’
In the background of this, Ms Shine bemoaned the prices for services that were set ‘so low we couldn’t break even – but we were expected to meet these ridiculous revenue targets every month.
‘You were constantly behind, constantly failing.
‘We didn’t even know how deep in debt we were until it was too late.’
However, when I contacted Body Sculpting Clinics for comment this week, another side to the story emerged.
In a lengthy and forensic response, co-founder Ben Gialouris said that upon her investment, Ms Shine was provided with a fully operational and profitable clinic at Westfield Bondi Junction.
Combined with national marketing power and support from head office, the franchise had ‘an initially successful start’.
But the honeymoon period didn’t last.
Just a week after her business was shuttered, Body Sculpting Clinics opened a new outlet metres away on level 6 of the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre
As the clinic began to face financial strain, Mr Gialouris alleges Ms Shine maintained her full director’s salary while continuing to live a ‘high-cost personal lifestyle’.
This allegedly included sending her children to private school, driving a Porsche, and taking trips to Europe, Dubai and the Whitsundays. (I have contacted Ms Shine for comment on the allegations regarding her spending.)
After the company went under, an Independent Administrator’s Report dated July 14 stated that ‘The Company appears to have been generally unprofitable since early 2023’ and ‘may have been insolvent from around June 2023’.
As for Ms Shine’s criticism of the prices, Mr Gialouris defended the clinics’ ‘competitive’ pricing structure and promotional strategies, which are ‘developed centrally to ensure brand consistency, sustainability and fair value across all clinics’.
He also refuted any suggestion Ms Shine was left on her own, saying, ‘We complied fully with the Franchise Code of Conduct and provided considerable support during difficult periods.’
‘For the record, we are currently exploring legal avenues in response to public misstatements and defamatory allegations made by Ms Shine, which have caused reputational damage,’ added Mr Gialouris.
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