Franchise Focus
each year, ChipsAway estimate that they currently only deal with 3 per cent of market demand. Ali recognised that in order to build his
ChipsAway business, he first needed to understand it inside and out. Comprehensive initial training and his first few months on the road in a fully equipped mobile ChipsAway workshop not only gave him the necessary technical skills to repair minor automotive paintwork damage, but also provided an insight into customer perceptions and demands. He says: “Owners of fast-food franchises
Ali Hoy
Chipping away
ChipsAway franchisee Ali Hoy already has his sights set on the big time
investment level: £29,995
months after his initial business launch and subsequently took on his first employee to help cope with escalating demand. Then, when he hit £10,000 per month turnover, Ali decided to take on a second employee – all before reaching his first-year milestone. “I had big plans for my ChipsAway business
A
from the start,” Ali confirms. “Now there are three of us in the team, the next step is to increase turnover to £20,000 per month. It’s a challenging target, but I confidently expect to achieve a quarter-of-a-million-pound turnover business this year.” Ali’s work history was in sales and marketing, holding senior roles in companies operating in the US and Asia. For his new career change he discounted downsizing to a small owner- operator business in the long term and was not in a position to invest up to £200,000 in one of the major franchise brands. He looked around, therefore, for a franchise with the potential to grow into a sizeable business and ChipsAway emerged as the obvious choice – offering a
68 |
Businessfranchise.com | april 2012
great deal can happen in a year, as ChipsAway franchisee Ali Hoy can testify. Ali opened a ChipsAway CarCare Centre (a fixed- base workshop) only six
scaleable business model and a growing brand presence in the marketplace.
“Although the company has been established for almost 18 years, it feels as though I’ve got in on something that’s just beginning ... brand awareness is growing fast – it’s an exciting time to be part of the ChipsAway success story!”
ChipsAway is the UK’s leading automotive paintwork repair specialist, with a nationwide network of around 350 technicians providing high-quality on-the-spot repairs to minor damage such as paintwork scratches, bumper scuffs and kerbed alloy wheels. Repairs are completed within a matter of hours and at a fraction of the cost of traditional body-shop repair methods. With 34 million cars on the road and over 17 million repair opportunities
don’t invest in order to flip burgers or cook pizzas, they invest to develop a business and make profit, but first they roll their sleeves up and learn what their employees will be required to do. I’ve taken the same approach to my ChipsAway business. As I take on more employees, I plan to do less and less painting, focusing instead on business development. Currently, I spend 40 per cent of my time on marketing and business development, with the other 60 per cent hands-on doing repairs. I expect that balance to change over the coming year – in order to achieve turnover of £1,000 per day, you have to be marketing your business strongly and consistently, so that has to be my priority going forward.” With a ChipsAway CarCare Centre and two technicians, Ali can now process many more vehicles per hour. “Now I can repair up to four cars at a time, preparing one vehicle whilst another is drying, with each member of the team assisting the other,” he explains. Ali confirms his decision to join ChipsAway was definitely the right move. “A successful business doesn’t just happen when you buy a franchise. You have to have passion for what you do, be prepared to work at it and believe in yourself. You also need a committed franchisor with a vision for the brand,” he says. “The ChipsAway management team is close to its franchisees and understands what we need; when you’re growing your business they will do everything they can to support you – and that makes a real difference.” In Ali’s view, ChipsAway gets it right with
their strong emphasis on customer marketing and continued investment in TV advertising. “Although the company has been established in the UK for almost 18 years, it feels as though I’ve got in on something that’s just beginning,” he says. “Brand awareness is growing fast and so is market share – it’s an exciting time to be part of the ChipsAway success story!” n
chipsaway
Website:
www.chipsaway.co.uk email:
uk@chipsaway.co.uk Phone: 0800 980 5423 classification: Automotive
Investment: £20k-£50k
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158