Interview

Chris and Julie Wantlin left decades-long careers at Ashley to launch Eight Pillars Holding, a roll-up company focused on acquiring stable, service-based “boring businesses” with predictable cash flow—and their first major move was acquiring The Salt Room, the first salt-therapy spa in the United States. Drawing on Julie’s background in merchandising, marketing, and wellness and Chris’s extensive experience building global operations, manufacturing, and e-commerce, they’re transforming a 14-year-old mom-and-pop spa into a scalable wellness platform. In this conversation, they share how their complementary skill sets, data-driven approach, and capital-raising ambitions are shaping a multi-location Salt Room roll-up and a broader portfolio strategy designed to reach $15–$20M in revenue within five years.

Q: Can you introduce yourselves and tell us what you’re working on?

Julie and I left corporate roles at Ashley earlier this year after long tenures, 32 years for me across many functions within one company. In February, we formed a holding company, Eight Pillars Holding, focused on acquiring stable, service-based businesses with $3–5M in revenue and healthy cash flow.

We evaluated about 200 businesses, everything from remediation and non-emergency medical transport to spas and roofing companies, before acquiring The Salt Room in Orlando in July. It’s the nation’s first salt room, with a 14-year history and an experienced team. We closed in 30 days and have been systematizing the business since.

Julie: My background includes product development, merchandising, e-commerce, and event/marketing for Ashley. I’ve always been drawn to wellness and community-facing experiences. The Salt Room resonated because of its holistic services and established clientele.

Q: What exactly is salt therapy and what services do you offer?

Salt therapy—also called halotherapy—uses fine medicinal salt dispersed into the air. Breathing it acts like a toothbrush for the lungs: it helps clear respiratory pathways and supports conditions like asthma, allergies, and skin issues such as eczema. Sessions can also aid recovery and general well-being.

At our location, we offer 45-minute salt room sessions, plus complementary services: massage therapy, sound therapy, acupuncture, facials, an infrared sauna, and colon hydrotherapy. We also combine treatments—for instance, massage plus salt therapy—creating layered, restorative experiences.

“Salt therapy — also called halotherapy — uses fine medicinal salt dispersed into the air.”

Q: Who is your core customer today, and where do you want to grow?

Christopher: Today, our core demographic is women aged 26–55, which represents roughly 85% of visits. We have long-standing customers who come daily, but because Orlando is home to the University of Central Florida (about 79,000 students), we’re actively targeting younger clients and college athletes. Wellness trends among millennials and Gen Z, less alcohol, more recovery, make that a logical growth path.

Julie: Education is a major focus. Many people don’t know what salt therapy is or its benefits, so we’re building outreach and demo experiences—including a mobile salt tent that gives a concentrated 5–10 minute sample at events. That tent has been an excellent tool to convert curious visitors into new members.

Q: How does salt therapy fit into your broader acquisition strategy?

Salt therapy currently represents about 20% of our revenue; the rest comes from services people already understand, such as massages, facials, and saunas. But salt is our differentiator and creates unique value to stack with other services. We plan to systematize front-desk sales, retail offerings, and membership packages, then replicate the model across other Salt Room locations.

Julie will lead the wellness roll-up while I pursue parallel opportunities—like a roofing roll-up—through Eight Pillars. Our five-year objective is to acquire multiple businesses (we’re thinking 5–10 salt rooms and 5 roofing firms), building a diversified portfolio targeting $15–$20M in revenue.

“We intentionally sought “boring” businesses with predictable cash flow because they allow for reliable returns and scale.”

Q: How do your backgrounds complement each other for this venture?

Julie: My experience is marketing, product, merchandising, and event-driven promotions. I love building customer experiences, launching assortments, and driving retail conversions.

Christopher: I spent decades building operations, manufacturing, and later digital commerce at Ashley—setting up greenfield factories in China and Vietnam, launching e-commerce, and running retail technology teams. I’m the builder and integrator: operations, systems, and scaling.

Together, we combine deep operational know-how with consumer-facing marketing and merchandising—an ideal pairing for buying and scaling service businesses.

Q: What brought you to the Board of Advisors (BA) Community, and what have you gained so far?

Christopher: We came to BA to learn capital raising and roll-up strategy. Initially, we didn’t know where funding would come from; BA put us in a room with people who had done it. We now have a list of 20 people to follow up with and concrete advice on raising capital and execution.

Julie: The event helped us refocus. We’d been pulled into operational details at the spa; BA helped us clarify a roadmap and think bigger. The conversations and connections were invaluable for moving from “survival mode” into a growth mindset.

Q: What are the key needs and obstacles as you scale?

Christopher: The primary need is capital and fundraising expertise. We have the operational skillset to execute—what we needed was the network, models, and confidence to scale acquisitions.

Julie: For me, it was clarity on marketing, sales processes, and defining a replicable customer experience. We’re building that playbook now, so it’s ready to roll across additional locations.

Q: Final throughts, what do you want people to know about your approach?

We’re builders who enjoy digging into data and operations. We intentionally sought “boring” businesses with predictable cash flow because they allow for reliable returns and scale. But we also wanted a venture that felt meaningful, and wellness does that. Our combined strengths—strategy, systems, marketing, and deep operational experience position us to take a single, thoughtful acquisition and scale it into a resilient portfolio.t employees—especially those on the front line—already know the answers. They simply haven’t been heard.