April 28, 2022

Sioux Falls-based 3 Degrees has achieved a rarity for a locally owned business: It’s franchising the model.

The infrared light therapy business owned by Penny Paclik has franchise agreements in Arizona and Georgia, plus an agreement to develop 50 locations across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

“I’m a natural developer of people. I love watching people succeed, and this has everything you’d want for a business,” said Paclik, whose business career has included franchising multiple national concepts, including Taco John’s, before beginning 3 Degrees as franchisees under a different name in 2013.

“We have it down to where it doesn’t cost much of anything to put in, people like to work there, you’re providing an incredible service to people, and at the end of the day, you feel good about it. Of all the things I’ve done in my life, it has anything you’d ever want.”

Paclik co-owns the business with her daughter, Tiffany. They bought it from the founder in 2018 and recently moved to a new location at The Bridges at 57th.

There’s also a location at 26th Street and Sycamore Avenue.

“We would open another if we saw fit, but I think our franchise is our focus now,” Paclik said.

The 3 Degrees development agreement is with a father-and-son team, Michael and Matt Weiss, who have owned and operated Massage Envy locations since 2007 in the Chicago area. Their plan is to spearhead development in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

“Although the popularity of infrared saunas might seem like a relatively new occurrence, they’ve been used for decades in hospitals and medical treatment centers,” Matt Weiss said. “Due to the growing awareness, demand and popularity of infrared therapy, we’re excited about expanding the 3 Degrees concept across the Midwest.”

The 3 Degrees model is built around a 40-minute session in a personal suite, with benefits that include pain relief, detoxification, reduction of muscle tension, relaxation, improved circulation, weight loss, skin purification, immune system support and lowering of blood pressure.

“I know what a miracle it is,” said Larry Hansen, who has been using the approach for 25 years and is franchising a location in Tucson, Arizona. “It helps me so much with my aches and pains.”

He’s a career entrepreneur whose ventures have included trucking, farming and import-exports and is in the process of finalizing a location for the first of up to four locations with the hope of opening this summer.

“I know Penny knows the franchise business. … We have a great relationship, always have, and she said it’s going to work, and if there’s something not working, she’s going to fix it, and that just sold me,” he said. “My main goal is for the betterment of people, to make people feel good and feel like I do.”

Another franchisee plans to open a location in the Atlanta area.

“We have quite the list of people who are getting vetted,” Paclik said. “It has absolutely skyrocketed. We have so many people we’re talking to right now. We’re really excited.”

At the same time, the business also has a new partnership with Sioux Falls-based Year Round Brown to put infrared saunas in its locations, beginning with the one that opened earlier this year at The Bridges.

“We’re a nontraditional franchisee of the product,” owner Zach Neugebauer said.

“I have so much respect for her and Tiffany. They’re great businesswomen, and for us to have the opportunity to take their brand and what they built and put it in our stores and price and package around our services is really unique.”

The relationship now includes nearly every Year Round Brown and all locations will have saunas by the end of the year.

“My whole feeling in life is people are busy with work and kids and activities and school, so if we can make these facilities bigger, it makes life easier to knock it all out,” Neugebauer said.

The pandemic also proved beneficial for the business as customers saw benefits in the detoxication and relaxation the studio provided, Paclik said.

“Our business flourished, we did fine, because the nurses and doctors were coming,” she said. “They would go home and shower and come to us.”

Next up: 3 Degrees will be getting into the products business, including a 3 Degrees-branded CBD-based cream designed to enhance the sauna experience and a line of skincare.

“We’ll be carrying those in the next month,” Paclik said.