140-151 news section D 2/3/07 4:55 pm Page 9
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FRANCHISE
News
Scenic Blue acquired PCC franchise prepares
SCENIC BLUE, the company that pioneered the Peter for London Marathon
UK’s first landscape gardening franchise, has
been acquired by Marshalls Plc - the UK’s
PEST Control Officer turned Professional Car Cleaner Peter Carmichael has found
number one landscape transformation company.
some surprising extra benefits to becoming a PCC franchisee. Not only is he earning
Marshalls’ decision to purchase Scenic Blue
more than before and enjoying the flexibility that allows him to spend quality time
underpins the company’s commitment to
with his family, but Peter also claims to have become fitter than ever - in fact, so fit
delivering a total garden design and project
that he will be running in the London Marathon this year to raise funds for premature
management solution to its customers and
baby charity ‘Bliss’.
signals a positive move to current and
“My new career as a valeter is
prospective Scenic Blue franchisees, who are
obviously pretty ‘hands-on’ and is
poised to significantly benefit from the formal
quite physically demanding
association with the new parent company.
compared to an office-based job, or
Aside from the
spending much of your time in a car
reassurance of the
as I previously did,” Peter explains.
backing and
“Now that I’m working outdoors
support of a major
and have ditched the stress of long
Plc, Marshalls’
hours and a pressurised workplace,
Peter Carmichael, franchisee
ownership of
I’m feeling great. Being my own boss has also given me a great deal more
Scenic Blue also
confidence in myself - it’s as though I’ve been given a new lease of life!”
opens up a myriad
Peter has the perfect opportunity to put in some extra training with one of his best
of new business
customers - the local Health & Fitness Club, where he started out valeting cars for
opportunities for
the management team, but soon found members were also asking to have their cars
Scenic Blue
cleaned while they were in the gym.
franchisees who
Launched last year in Manchester at The British Franchise Exhibition,
will be able to
Judy Behl, Scenic Blue Professional Car Cleaning (PCC) is the fast growing valeting franchise from well
Managing Director
capitalise on
known franchise specialist the ChipsAway Group. The PCC franchise has
Marshalls’ substantial investment in marketing
established a strong brand presence, with well trained and professionally supported
which includes the annual dispatch of over 1
franchisees operating from specially customised, fully equipped vehicles, providing
million brochures, a highly sophisticated website
high quality valeting services to private individuals and business customers.
and sustained annual consumer media campaign
Further details turn to page 80
and a visible presence within the growing
number of Marshalls’ Drive & Garden
Transformation Centres around the country.
WHAT’S Nottingham couple
In addition to this, the credibility of the
ONLINE?
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make career change
Scenic Blue brand will be further strengthened
by the recent announcement that Marshalls is to
JUST 18 months ago the future was uncertain for local couple, Karen Wild and
sponsor the highly prestigious Chelsea Flower
Leyton Howells. Karen, a UK sales manager, and Leyton, a factory manager, both
Show for the next three years.
faced the possibility of redundancy.
Commenting on the sale, Scenic Blue UK
Karen considered work as a language teacher; Leyton considered consultancy
Managing Director Judy Behl says: “Ever since
work in engineering. Instead they are opening a Sliderobes fitted wardrobe
we created the concept of a landscape gardening
franchise in Nottingham. It is an opportunity that meets all their requirements, in
franchise, we have been committed to providing
that it combines both sales and manufacturing elements.
our franchisees with the very best business
They knew that any business venture needed to be solid and likely to bring them
support to aid the development of a strong
a good return on their investment. But they also realised, once the shock of
network of highly successful franchises. This
possible redundancy had subsided, that severance payments opened up some
announcement represents the next phase of the
completely different avenues for them.
company’s planned development strategy. With
A chance meeting with Richard Holden, Head of Franchising at Lloyds TSB,
the fantastic support of a major Plc and direct
the bank that helped them with the loan for their venture, confirmed their views.
access to its considerable resources, we are
“Richard was very supportive and encouraged us to go ahead with researching the
confident that we will strengthen the appeal of
suitability of the Sliderobes franchise opportunity,” explains Leyton.
the Scenic Blue franchise proposition which
“A Sliderobes franchise felt right from the very start, as if we were joining a big
already enjoys an enviable reputation as a valid
family. I was very impressed with the strong branding and consistency of operation
and increasingly salient investment for any
across the Sliderobes franchises. I realised that the product had excellent potential
business savvy entrepreneur.”
in our area too.”
Further details call 01603 620 301
Visit
www.thefranchisemagazine.net for the full story
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