SPOTLIGHTINTERVIEW
grow and grow in a tough sector has been a highlight.
What has been your personal highlight? My personal highlight must be watching the company grow while I lived out in Dubai. The restaurant is doing extremely well over there.
Is Dubai somewhere you would recommend to start a franchise? I would. The tax reliefs are obviously a major benefit, but it’s also a highly populated area now. A lot of the global brands are going there because they see how quickly it’s growing and how quickly the expat community is growing, too.
What countries are you looking at for Broccoli Pizza & Pasta? The Gulf’s doing well and we’ve recently started construction in Cape Town, South Africa. We’re personally opening 10 sites in the UK, with four sites currently under construction already. There’s obviously the European market, too; my colleague Reece Allen was in Finland and Estonia recently approving sites there.
Is there a support network for all the franchisees or somewhere they can all get together?
In the UK, we’ll do quarterly meet ups, either in one of our shops or one of their shops. If
there’s any new store openings, everyone will be invited to that, so they can meet all the team members in the network. Because it’s a family-run company, we want to have that personal touch; every franchisee will remain a name, not a number, so if somebody calls, we will know exactly who it is.
Do Broccoli Pizza & Pasta franchisees need previous experience in the food and drink industry?
Because our training sessions are so in-depth, you don’t have to have any experience. To be honest, we actually prefer someone to have as little experience as possible, because we can mould them into the brand and the way we work.
“The Gulf’s doing well and we’ve recently started construction in Cape Town, South Africa”
So what’s next on the cards for Broccoli Pizza & Pasta? We’re now allowing franchisees to pick their territory, so, naturally, they’re going for university towns and areas where the halal meat will be more beneficial. By the end of next year, we’re looking at a line of restaurants
across the whole of the UK. The European market has a lot of opportunities, but we don’t want to open restaurants around Europe just yet as we want to focus on the UK right now. We know areas like France and Germany will do well, but we want to do it systematically so the brand awareness can grow steadily.
Would you recommend that prospective Broccoli Pizza & Pasta franchisees or other franchisors attend franchise exhibitions? If you’re looking to invest in a franchise then the exhibitions like The National Franchise Exhibition are great because there are 35-plus companies offering unique concepts. Franchise exhibitions are brilliant for us because you meet a diverse set of investors and get to see competitors and how they operate. We’ve been to six exhibitions and we’ve been successful each time with the calibre of candidates that walk through the doors.
Why do franchisees invest in Broccoli Pizza & Pasta? When people are looking to invest, they’re investing in a business, but also investing in trust. Potential franchisees are looking for a long-term investment, and a brand that has the backing to go global, which is currently where we are. This way, they get in at the beginning, rather than paying a premium and not have the opportunity to grow with the franchise. n
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