Franchise Focus Anchors away
From the shipyard to The ZipYard – a franchise success story
INVESTMENT LEVEL: £38,500
unzipped a six-foot giant zip to declare the specialist garment alterations and repair centre open, the business was trading at almost full capacity and recruitment was underway to add a third seamstress to the team.
Graeme is no stranger to the franchising business model – he was previously an award-winning Cash Generator owner, running multiple branches.
“If you can combine excellence in service with excellence of products you have a winning formula – and we certainly have that”
“The time was right to move on and give my career a new direction. I was proud of the Cash Generator businesses that I had built up but I am always on the look out for innovative ideas and The ZipYard model ticked all of the boxes.”
Richard McConnell I
n unsettled economic times, there is often an attempt to create jobs rather than tackle the employment market from the outside. Franchising, however, reduces the risk involved in setting up your own business while bringing all the benefits of working for yourself.
Nigel Toplis, managing director of The Bardon Group, says: “Where you have a good franchise system, you really have a marriage, in that you have a proven business system, collateral, support and training from the franchisor and the dynamism, ambition, drive and skillset of the franchisee.” The ZipYard is one such success story. After experiencing a botched tailoring job, two entrepreneurs saw a gap in the market and used an empty shop, in which to set up their own business, that sat opposite Belfast shipyard and duly inspired the name. “From there they decided to franchise the concept in Northern Ireland, then master licence in Southern Ireland. We took the master licence from them to franchise in Great Britain and started trading in 2011.” Nigel continues: “The ZipYard has an ‘open kitchen’ approach, in that the store is open plan and workers are very much out in the open, rather than confined in a back room. There are also fitting rooms on site and
138 |
Businessfranchise.com | October 2014
an automated processing service, where the garments are tracked by barcode throughout the process and a text message is delivered to the customer upon completion.” Nigel believes this system has “professionalised the industry”, adding an extra element of authority to an already talented workforce.
“We’ve very much made it a professional, open, high-street operation,” Nigel adds. This could explain The ZipYard’s rapid growth, with 15 new centres open in the last two years and an expectation of getting 50 centres open within the next three. Richard McConnell opened The ZipYard in Altrincham in September 2011 and in 2013 was a finalist in the bfa Franchise of the Year awards, having already won numerous local business accolades.
From a turnover of £174,000 in his first year to £270,000-plus in his second, growth has been exceptional. Such has been the progress of the business that this one-time driving instructor has opened a second Centre (Wilmslow), which is also doing very well.
Experienced in sales and marketing, Graeme Mulheron took the decision to buy The ZipYard franchise for Bedford in summer 2013 and hasn’t looked back since. By the time local Mayor Dave Hodgson
He says: “I had read about the ZipYard’s arrival in the UK but it wasn’t until I had to get a suit altered that I realised just how much the local area needed a top-quality alterations and repair service. “It dawned on me that there must be lots of other people out there just like me with clothes that need altering and nowhere to take them, so I decided bring The ZipYard to Bedford.
“I have been extremely pleased by the success of our ZipYard store so far. As with any business, if you can combine excellence in service with excellence of products you have a winning formula and we certainly have that here at The ZipYard Bedford.” The ZipYard concept is well established in Ireland and growing steadily in the UK. The ZipYard centres carry distinctive yellow and black branding and offer quality garment alterations and repairs to members of the public as well as local retailers, businesses with uniformed staff, hire and bridal shops and even schools, all in a clean and purpose- designed retail environment with on-site seamstresses and private changing rooms. Territories are being snapped up fast but there are still opportunities available for the right candidates. n
THE ZIPYARD
WEBSITE:
www.thezipyard.com EMAIL:
edownes@thezipyard.co.uk PHONE: 01530 513 307 CLASSIFICATION: Retail
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 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218