BE YOUR OWN BOSS AT LOW COST
REALLY AWESOME COFFEE
Really Awesome Coffee (RAC) is a mobile café business with franchise partners operating coffee vans across the UK. The franchise network has seen huge growth; in the last 18 months alone it has doubled the number of franchisees – a testament to the massive growth of the UK coffee retail market as well as RAC’s business model. Founder Kevin Haswell gives the lowdown on the brand and the franchise opportunity.
What does running a Really Awesome Coffee van franchise involve and what are the benefits?
Most of our franchisees enjoy the lifestyle of working the vans themselves, while others have chosen a management franchise model and run multiple vans. With the typical owner-operator model, our franchise partners spend their weekdays driving their mobile cafés to their regular ‘coffee stops’ on their daily coffee route – something that we set up with new franchise partners during their supported business launch. Some like to add significantly to their income by working at weekend events and others prefer to keep their weekends as family time – this choice lies directly with the franchisee. We open accounts for new franchisees with all our core product suppliers and the mobile cafés sell everything you would expect in a high-quality coffee shop – gourmet coffees and hot drinks, frappés and fresh smoothies, sandwiches and salads, hot pasties and paninis and a selection of cakes and muffins. There are many reasons why people
decide to set up their own business, having control of your own working life and directly reaping the rewards of your own efforts are often near the top of this list. Escaping the stresses and confines of the typical nine-to-five routine and taking more enjoyment from the working day are reasons also mentioned by the majority of our franchise partners. We understand that we’re not all the same and people’s motivations and aspirations vary. We sit down with each new franchise partner and write a business development plan based on their own personal definition of success, and then we work with them to achieve this goal. Across the network we have franchise partners who operate their businesses in very different ways to suit their lifestyle and their aspirations. Some like to work a full day and build an efficient coffee round with us to generate significant income for them and their family. Others decide to work fewer hours to fit their business around their family life or operate a more social and slow-paced coffee round, if their financial goals or requirements are lower.
I’m not a barista, or a salesperson – what training and support do you provide before startup? The training part of the programme is spent at our headquarters in Coventry with accommodation included and all comes as part of the franchisee fee. The training starts with professional barista training in our training academy followed by hands-on practice on the customers of our head office coffee round (the original coffee round we set up in 2010). We then go on to cover all aspects of how to operate and manage your business successfully – from using our bespoke software to local marketing, financial management and more. All in all, you are with us in Coventry for a week and a half before we come to work with you to launch your business. The business launch process also lasts a week and a half and, during this time, you will be joined by your franchise development manager (FDM) and another member of our launch team. We make all the sales calls for you, giving you the opportunity to learn from us while having the benefits of years
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BusinessFranchise.com | July/August 2018
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