We began as a small tanning salon with only one UV tanning bed and one spray booth. We knew very little about running a small business but had the itch to create something new in San Francisco. At the time, Peter was working for a medical device company and Greg was working for a pharmaceutical company. We wanted to put our entrepreneurial drive and energy towards something completely unique.

In August of 2003, we started having discussions about bringing a level of sophistication to San Francisco that didn't yet exist. Spray tanning was just starting to become popular and while evaluating the industry as a whole, our conversation quickly turned to giving all aspects of tanning a major facelift. We both realized that we liked to tan and all of our friends liked to tan, but collectively we all disliked going to any of the local salons. The salons typically looked and felt the same in every city. The interior was average at best, the equipment was outdated and the staff didn't take the time to educate the customer. We knew we could fill this void by bringing a high-end, customer-focused tanning salon to the city. Our goal was to create an environment that fostered innovation, customer education and pure luxury.

On November 13th, 2004 we opened our first Tan Bella® and were an instant hit. We received rewarding feedback from our customers and quickly became ranked the best in the bay area. We were told that sitting in our lobby felt more like a comfortable lounge as opposed to a tanning salon.