FRANCHISEFOCUS INVESTMENT: FROM £35 0,000 A hearty opportunity
Consider Wiltshire Farm Foods for a franchise making a real difference
E
stablished for over 25 years, Wiltshire Farm Foods is a highly successful brand supplying delicious
and nutritious frozen ready meals to the local community that are easy to prepare and delivered direct to the freezer. The network is made up of over 80 franchise partners, with non-competing territories. Austin Droney, who owns the Bracknell
franchise and is one of the longest- serving franchise partners in the network, discusses how working with this brand makes a real difference to the community he works in. He says: “After being made redundant, I was in a difficult place and decided I would prefer to work for myself. Franchising ticked all the boxes. After my career in the local authority I had considerable experience working with the elderly and housing schemes, so I knew this target area quite well.
"Who wouldn’t want to be part of this success?"
“I bought my franchise in 1993 from Ben
Walden who had just decided to franchise his business of home-delivered meals to individuals living independently in the community. Ben’s operation was based in Trowbridge, hence Wiltshire Farm Foods. “When I started, the whole concept
was brand new – all I bought were the GU postcodes with no customers, no business. (I later bought the KT and TW postcodes.) I had to use my local knowledge to knock on doors to dredge up customers who didn’t even know they had a need! “From this standing start the business
grew to what it is today. At its peak I had 1,000-plus customers per week until I sold off half the franchise in 2018, retaining the GU postcodes. I currently have an average of 560 customers per week. “I was fortunate enough to buy my
franchise right at the start of the concept. 92 p Austin Droney, Bracknell franchisee, with his team
In 1995, apetito purchased the brand from Walden’s. From my point of view, this was the best thing that could have happened. Due to their investment and expertise it’s now a £100million brand. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that success?”
Working with the local community The Wiltshire Farm Foods model is based around good old-fashioned service that seeks to make a real difference to the lives of the elderly, helping them retain their independence in their own homes. For many of them, the Wiltshire Farm Foods team are sometimes the only people they see or speak to from one day to the next, and the importance of this relationship is key to the success of the business.
Advice for the future What advice would Austin give to anyone considering going into franchising? “Don’t underestimate the amount of commitment required to run a successful
franchise. Before starting off, talk to as many other franchisees as possible. “There are so many reasons to consider Wiltshire Farm Foods – a nationally recognised brand established for 25 years, it recently underwent a successful rebrand, there's a planned extension to the manufacturing plant and significant investment in the website and other IT. It also recently won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development for its commitment to conducting business in a way that impacts positively on the environment, society and economy, as well as winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation in 2016.” l
WILTSHIRE FARM FOODS Food delivery 0808 281 2479
franchise.wiltshirefarmfoods.com
andy.turner@wiltshirefarmfoods.co.uk
Investment level: £100k+
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