Hand and Stone was recently featured in The Record!

Bring massage to the masses is CEO's goal

Sunday, June 13, 2010

BY JOAN VERDON
The Record
STAFF WRITER

Todd Leff’s original plan after he stepped down as CEO of the AAMCO transmission and auto repair franchise chain was to retire and play a lot of golf. "That lasted about three months," he says. Instead of spending his time relaxing on the links, he decided to go back to work helping to build a new chain that wants to market mass relaxation.

Massage for the masses is the mantra at Hand & Stone, a chain of massage and facial spas that offers 50-minute massages for $49.95 to its members.

The company, based in Toms River, plans to move its headquarters to Hamilton this summer. It has 31 spas in nine states and Canada, and expects to open 20 to 25 new locations this year, with North Jersey being a major target for expansion.

The company was founded by a physical therapist, John Marco, in 2005, who is the company’s chief operating officer.

Leff, 51, signed on as an investor last year and is overseeing the company’s marketing, franchise development, real estate and finance functions as president and CEO. Career changes are nothing new for Leff. He was a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia for five years in the 1980s, before joining Cottman Transmission as corporate counsel. He became CEO of Cottman, and when the two transmission chains merged, he became CEO of AAMCO. He spoke with The Record at Hand & Stone’s newest New Jersey location, in Hamilton. (Interview condensed for space.) (Read More).