STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — After losing his wife to cancer, Christian Cadenas had to find a way to balance work while raising his newborn son.
“He was only 5 months old when my wife passed,” Cadenas said, detailing how he first relied on family as he traveled into Manhattan where he worked as a barber. “As he got older, I took him to work with me, but as I watched him do homework and eat dinner in the back of the barbershop, I knew I had to make a change.”
Inspired by a barber truck he saw stationed in SoHo, Cadenas researched what it would take to launch a similar mobile concept here on Staten Island. He took out a home equity loan, applied for the proper licenses and permits and purchased a van. Cuts By Chris Mobile Barbershop was born.
“The first year was rough,” he conceded. “I didn’t make much of a profit. But I used social media to promote the business and reached out to former clients to tell them about this new service. Business began to pick up. Now I’m fully booked on a consistent basis, and customers schedule their appointments every two weeks.”
His mobile barbershop is luxe: It features a plush, oversized chair, vanity lighting and a flat-screen TV complete with a gaming station for kids. An iconic, red-white-and-blue barber pole is hooked to the exterior to help advertise his business…