TWO local entrepreneurs have launched Peek-A-Treat, an online business to help customers find the best hair, beauty and wellness professionals in their area.

Megan Galbraith and Felicity King have drawn on their respective skills to create the business.

“My background is in hairdressing and Felicity knows everything about beauty,” said Megan.

“We’d been thinking about creating a one-stop shop to bring together businesses you can trust and their customers for about a year before lockdown, but when everything closed it gave us the impetus to push forward with the idea.

“It’s fair to say that without lockdown we’d never have started Peek-A-Treat. We’re both mothers of children under two, and with our own salons, so I doubt we’d have had the time.

“We met up only twice over the last year to build our brand, the rest was done largely on lots of WhatsApp.

 “We created Peek-A-Treat not just to shine a light on our industry, which has suffered severely during the pandemic, but to help members of the public know where to find a professional they can trust. 

“Our users head to our site, which is completely free, add their email address and pop their postcode in the searcher.

“Then up come all of the businesses near them that have been Peek-A-Treat approved.

“I always come back to trust, but it’s absolutely central to us. The customer must feel they can trust the business.

“When a business applies to us to be included on Peek-A-Treat, we check all licences, insurance and qualifications. If we’re not satisfied, we won’t include the business.

“Once we’re happy with the information, the business profile will include up-to-date pictures, contact information, honest customer reviews and ratings, and all social media handles. 

“The business will then display a Peek-A-Treat certificate so customers will know its professional standards have been checked.

“Members of our site will also receive weekly emails with all the latest news from our chosen professionals.”

Although they are wary of comparisons, other customer websites have sometimes attracted negative reviews of businesses. How would Peek-A-Treat handle that?

“We would raise it first with the business and try to find out the truth,” Megan said. “If it’s justified, we’d work with the business to try to help them address the problem and improve their service, but if it’s just malicious we’d remove it. 

“We’re not solely about customers, we want to help businesses too. These are real people with real businesses, doing their best to provide a high-quality service.

“We see their side too. We can tailor their social media to tackle any immediate problems. Are they a bit quiet? Maybe we flag an offer they have on. Do they want to widen the business? We can promote that. Do they want new pictures of their salon? We can update their profile.

“It’s worth saying too that all mobile businesses will carry a photograph of those who make visits. A customer will know what the person they’ve booked looks like, which is important for security.”

The early signs have been encouraging, with 20 businesses across Surrey signed up in just two weeks, and Peek-A-Treat has already expanded into podcasts, which can be found on Spotify as Peek-A-Pod.

* FOR more information or to join the website, visit www.peekatreat.com. Any business wishing to feature on the website should contact [email protected]  – Peek-A-Treat is currently offering a half-price promotion for three months. Social media handles are @peekatreatuk on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.