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Fast-growing cosmetic dentistry group Dental Boutique is building up an enviable waitlist ahead of the official launch of a purpose-built Gold Coast location that has been 18 months in the making.
Dental Boutique co-founder and director Dr Reuben Sim tells Business News Australia a soft launch of the 15-seat clinic in Benowa, complete with a state-of-the-art general anaesthetic space, has attracted 170 patients to the waitlist already.
“In Sydney when we first opened we had 400 patients on the waitlist, but that’s because it’s in Sydney,” says Sim, who established the business with his wife Dr May Chan in 2013. Both have won multiple accolades in the Melbourne Young Entrepreneur Awards and Australian Young Entrepreneur Awards.
“The Gold Coast has a much, much smaller population. I think that’s a big win.”
For context, Sydney’s population is around 8.5 times larger than the Gold Coast’s.
This high level of demand would not come as a surprise to those who have witnessed Dental Boutique’s traction elsewhere, including in Queensland where the group also has sites in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
“Eighteen months ago we decided that the Gold Coast would be a good place to go because a lot of our patients from the Gold Coast would travel to Brisbane,” the co-founder explains.
“If people are getting our services from Brisbane and travelling, it means there would be unmet needs from people on the Gold Coast who do not want to travel for an hour to our Brisbane clinic.
“That was the basis for how we grew Dental Boutique in general. In 2022 when we first started expanding, 30 per cent of our patients in Melbourne were from the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, and that's why we started to expand.”
Related story: Dr May Chan wins Melbourne Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award as Dental Boutique keeps thriving
Sim wishes Dental Boutique could have opened on the Gold Coast a year ago, but the decision was made to purchase land and build the clinic, implying a longer timeframe to launch and a cost of approximately $2.7 million for the fit-out.
“It’s a state-of-the-art facility, beautiful fit-out, clean, and it's strategic in terms of the ease of parking so there’s no need to worry about parking for patients,” he says.
“It’s a bonus to have a nice fit-out, but besides the effect of a physical location and physical asset is the way we differentiate ourselves by providing amazing customer service.
“With everything that we do marketing-wise and through word-of-mouth, it would all be smoke and mirrors if we didn’t produce clinical outcomes – that’s number one – and good client service and recovery.”
Now with 11 locations and a team of 350 staff, including 120 clinicians, last year Dental Boutique assisted 20,700 new patients as part of its mission to transform smiles and help boost people’s confidence through cosmetic dentistry.
“What we’re trying to do is minimise the taboo of someone wanting to feel and look better,” Sim explains.
“In a general sense, a lot of people sometimes get shamed for wanting to look better.
“We do not want to shame anyone, we want people to feel good about themselves - that’s the premise of the business.”
The rationale to open a clinic on the Gold Coast is strengthened by a trend Sim has seen over the past year towards convenience and less appetite from people to travel for services.
“We want to be accessible. What I find right now is that a lot of people are wanting ‘instant’,” he says.
“Convenience has always been a big thing, but I feel that even in the last year, convenience has become a bigger thing, and therefore that's why we want to be in more different locations to reach out to these people.”
Sim also believes the group will also be able to derive learnings from having a physical presence on the Gold Coast, given its reputation as a hub for aesthetic services.
“The Gold Coast has always been the hub for beauty where you know people place a special importance on how they look,” he says.
“To be there it just allows us to have a better footprint, and a better understanding of where the direction of aesthetic dentistry can go and should go as well.
“You’ve always got to remember as well that bigger doesn’t always mean better. It’s always got to do with making the right decisions so that we can really flourish from here on.”
With four dentists from day one who have already seen some patients as part of the soft launch, Dental Boutique’s Gold Coast clinic on 206 Ashmore Road will officially open on 28 April.
The clinic adds to a footprint of existing clinics in Melbourne, Mornington, Geelong, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, Chatswood, Auckland, Sunshine Coast, and Brisbane.
“Adelaide number two is coming up, so we’re very excited about that as well,” Sim adds.
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