Market Focus The Zip Yard
Richard McConnell opened the first English Zip Yard franchise last year in Altrincham, south
Manchester
Why did you decide to open a Zip Yard franchise?
I’d been a driving instructor but I was working unsociable hours and bad weather meant I could have no money for weeks. Then I saw an advert in Business Franchise magazine for Zip Yard, my wife saw the potential and after I’d looked at five or six Zip Yard centres in Ireland, I was convinced.
Did you need to know anything about sewing? No. To take someone and train them up would take years. Zip Yard provide you with your first few seamstresses and they’re all high quality.
What sort of customers do you have? All sorts. We even have celebrities, including footballers’ wives, because we’re in an affluent part of Manchester.
How have your first few months been? Fairly stressful! It’s a new business venture and we’ve just had a child so it’s been a mad few months. But it’s been 100 times better than expected. We’ve more than recouped our investment and we did that in week three. What other business can you go into and do that?
Tutti Frutti Yusri
Othman opened the first UK Tutti Frutti franchise in Covent Garden,
London, at the start of the year.
How did you hear about Tutti Frutti? One of the shareholders messaged me on Facebook. I was in hospitality for eight
Did you need any training? I knew the gist of how to run a shop but then Tutti Frutti gave me more specific training. The American head office sent over trainers for two weeks and they trained me in how to make the dishes, troubleshooting the machines and so on.
How have sales been so far? Extremely good. It’s our flagship store and very prominent. Covent Garden has plenty of tourists and it’s business-orientated, too. I’m already looking for a new warehouse!
Subway
Mark Wilson is group operations manager for Frasers Retail and has two Subway stores based in the company’s petrol stations, with more
planned to be opened later this year
Why did you add Subway stores to your petrol stations? We’d tried pizza and chicken stores-in- stores with some mediocre brands. They just sold us equipment and did a runner. Then we tried a company which was quite successful, but had limited growth unfortunately, and wasn’t a recognised brand. So we inquired with Subway and their training was by far the most professional we’d come across, with good back-up and support.
What are the advantages of a store-in-store?
The Subway adds value to the overall offer. Someone may come in for food at Subway and end up buying a newspaper or something else. And it works both ways – it’s a very nice, symbiotic relationship.
Cash Converters Gary Lewy
opened his first Cash Converters franchise 17 years ago and now runs 11 stores in and around East London.
Why did you decide to join Cash Converters?
I was selling office equipment as part of the family business. But the downside was we were delivering to companies going bust. Then we saw what Cash Converters had to offer and that it had a strong foundation, and my dad and a partner bought in. Eventually, I bought the partner out.
How do you decide where to open stores? You need a mix of people in the catchment area – if it’s very deprived, you can buy from people but who can you sell things to?
How have you adapted to the downturn?
The emphasis is still on good customer service, but we’re not just buying and selling now. We offer loans and cheque cashing and have a Western Union. The majority of shops are now 1,000-2,000sq ft when the minimum used to be 2,000sq ft.
How much of your business is now on the internet? About 20 per cent.
How different is running a Cash Converters from running another franchise? You need experience of buying as well as selling. You get everything from the public, so you have to decide how much to buy it for, and where and how to sell it. n
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years, working in different hotels, including Selfridges, so I was experienced. But everybody has to have a turning point in their life when they can either change or stagnate and this was my time.
Are there any things that make Tutti Frutti different? The franchisees don’t get charged any royalties.
How have your Subways fared? The first, Brize Norton, was a great site close to a local airbase and is now in the top 10 per cent of the busiest sites in Britain. The second is in Yarnton. It’s a much smaller scale, but it’s very successful and healthy. Subway has been a great success for Frasers Retail and we will continue to roll out to as many stores as we can get it into.
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