Special Feature
ChipsAway Alistair Hoy
Alistair and Susan Hoy are the directors of ChipsAway in Cardiff and have been trading since July 2010.
Why did you choose a hands-on franchise? It was more to do with a franchise with a strong brand initially, and then hands-on was essential to get to understand the product. In the long term, we wanted to move to a more management-style franchise. The ChipsAway franchise allows this, but you really do need to understand the process and product first, before considering or moving to this.
How did you find the training for your new vocation?
My formative training was in mechanical engineering, so I have a reasonably high degree of manual dexterity. Training is at the ChipsAway
headquarters in Kidderminster and consists of a very intense four-week course, with an additional week 12 weeks later. Needless
to say, we are learning more every day as each individual repair is somewhat unique.
Are you happy with the lifestyle that comes with running a franchise? As with every business startup, it’s always going to be tough, so there’s a lot of hard work and long hours to begin with. Lifestyle has to take second place in the early years. Owning a franchise gives you the
freedom to make your own choices. Being your own boss is a lifestyle that appeals to a lot of people.
How is business going so far? We are doing very well indeed – from ‘a man in a van’ to ChipsAway UK Franchisee of the Year 2015. We opened a new facility (ChipsAway Car Care Centre) in Llanishen, Cardiff, 12 months ago. Business is going from strength to strength and we are currently recruiting more staff.
Describe a typical day running your franchise... We open at 8am. Customers start to drop cars off from then, with some even earlier. We offer a pick up and return from home or place of work service, so the first hour can be quite manic. On arrival, the damage to the cars is quickly reassessed prior to
commencement of repairs in case there is additional damage since we quoted. Cars are scanned with a
spectrophotometer to ensure paint colour- matching is the best it can be. We mix the paint tints on site for each individual car. We repair up to six cars a day and repairs run concurrently for maximum efficiency. Over 95 per cent of repairs are completed the same day and all come with a lifetime guarantee.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting a hands-on franchise? Be honest with yourself, it’s going to be a lot of hard work and long hours – dedication is required. Ambition and abilities don’t often align, so you need to be able to adjust your business plan accordingly.
What are your plans for the future? Our Car Care Centre is pretty much fully kitted out, with all major capital expenditure in place. We are also currently recruiting more employees to enable us to satisfy the organic growth we are generating. More than 60 per cent of our customers are repeat or referral, so we need to be able to keep them happy and coming back.
September 2016 |
BusinessFranchise.com | 19
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