Color Me Mine CEO Teresa Johnson shares her best tips for engaging with customers and building lasting relationships.
By Emily Washcovick • edited by Jessica Thomas • Mar 20, 2025
Courtesy of Color Me Mine
Key Takeaways
- Offering interactive, creative opportunities helps businesses build emotional connections and stand apart from competitors.
- Catering events, hosting celebrations and creating opportunities to interact with locals create loyalty and lasting customer relationships.
- Every customer is different, and personalized service enhances customer satisfaction.
At Color Me Mine, painting pottery is more than an act of artistic expression — it offers a rare opportunity to slow down, ground oneself and create something uniquely personal. A franchise system with over 130 locations nationwide, the paint-your-own pottery studio prioritizes self-expression, relaxation and special moments with friends, family or even just yourself.
Color Me Mine studios welcome guests into a space designed for creativity without pressure. Shelves stocked with blank ceramics invite customers to experiment with various pieces, while walls filled with over 60 vibrant paint colors encourage imaginative combinations. Whether painting a single mug, decorative plate or ornate vase, the focus is for customers to enjoy the painting process instead of trying to achieve perfection.
For CEO Teresa Johnson, the studios offer a safe space where people reconnect with their creativity and, often, with each other. “We are focused on art as entertainment, and we love being able to provide that sort of escape for people to get away from the daily troubles and worries in the world,” she says. “And [to] spend time with family and friends to create some memories, but also create something tangible that they will have forever.”
Since it opened in 1991, Color Me Mine has built a thriving creative community that attracts everyone from first-time painters to longtime regulars.
This unique approach also attracts multi-generational customers; for example, many who painted pottery as children now bring their own kids to share in their tradition. Johnson is cognizant of evolving demographics as the franchise has grown in scale and history.
“Twenty years ago, we had a 7-year-old have a birthday party in our studio. And today, that person’s 27 with her 7-year-old possibly, so it’s multi-generational now where it wasn’t 20 years ago,” Johnson says.
Like traditional businesses, the studios also thrive on relationship-building. Each location is connected to its local community, becoming a go-to destination for events, celebrations and self-care retreats. Johnson understands the importance of recognizing how each franchisee can connect with guests on a local level to build positive relationships over the course of their visits. Not only does this community-driven approach strengthen customer loyalty, but it also makes the studios feel like home for those who might need it most.
“This is not a transactional business,” Johnson says. “This is a relationship business where somebody walks in your studio, and they’re escaping whatever’s going on in their life. A lot of times, you get to learn about those who may be going through difficult times — cancer treatments, people who have lost loved ones recently, customers in California whose devastating situation with the fires has left them looking for a place to come and get away.”