Sep 5, 2011 | Clients in the Media
Coconut Creatives’ client news: Assist with Solutions keeps SMEs on the road to success!
There are over 4.5 million businesses in the UK, each with specific and different needs. Over 3 million of these are in the Small to Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) sector and are looking for ways to expand without having to commit to employing new staff and expensive training programmes. Traditionally, SMEs look to organisations such as Business Link for advice but the reduction in Government grants and the withdrawal of funded support like Business Link, means that SMEs are now looking to the private sector for solutions.
Assist with Solutions is a business consultancy franchise that is filling this role in a sector now worth £10 billion; providing support to business owners wanting to develop and grow. At some point during their business cycle, companies need help in areas such as marketing, operations, finance or I.T. Assist with Solutions help them identify what they need and when, then they work with them to help make it happen. They help their clients to make money, save money and save time.
Andy MacDonald, MD of Assist with Solutions, explains: “We help business owners to achieve their dreams, goals and ambitions. It’s a little bit of business magic! Setting them free from the daily operational and growth headaches.”
MD Pipeline Services Ltd is one of UK’s top providers for sewer desilting, inspection, cleaning and repair, their MD David Evans explains: “We needed help to get our business model from the idea stage to the marketplace and the assistance we received from Assist with Solutions has enabled us to secure the funding the business needed to achieve its strategic objectives.”
Andy adds: “We are currently achieving up to 50% net profit margins and so that we can continue our excellent level of support to win and keep clients, we are only looking to recruit 10 franchisees in 2011.”
To register for a discovery day or find out more email andy.macdonald@assistwithsolutions.co.uk or call 0844 669 8827.
Aug 8, 2011 | Clients in the Media
Coconut Creatives’ client news: Adept Cleaning Services trades well on its reputation
Adept Cleaning Services’ founder, Alan Thomson, knew from the outset that if he wanted to gain an edge over the competition, it would take an exceptional level of service…and he’s succeeded. The business, which has been providing a flexible, reliable cleaning service for commercial and industrial premises for 17 years, boasts a high level of client retention and was franchised in 2007. Adept itself, as Franchisor, is an Associate Member of the British Franchise Association and has obtained ISO 9001 accreditation for its Quality Management System.
First franchisee is credited with award
In the Summer of 2010, Adept was delighted to learn that its cleaning service had been credited with having made a significant contribution to The Beatles Story in Liverpool winning Best Large Visitor Attraction at The Mersey Partnership’s annual awards ceremony.
“Your company played a huge part in this, as we were showcased as a Quality venue and the level of cleanliness was particularly mentioned in the report. Please can you thank all your staff on our behalf.” Mary Chadwick, General Manager Commercial, The Beatles Story.
Keep ahead of the competition
When Michael Holt became Adept’s first franchisee, four years ago, there were six other new cleaning companies that started up in his area at around the same time. Today, Michael is the only one still trading and he’s grown the business quickly, already turning over £500,000 with a pre-tax profit of around 20%. He puts his success down to having the right business model and reputation, which has resulted in most of his new business now coming from referrals.
“It is testimony to the hard work of the Adept team that the Floral Pavilion still looks as good as when it first opened in 2008. All their staff are flexible, courteous, friendly and always willing to go that extra mile for us and we truly value Adept as part of the Floral Pavilion family.” Kate Carpenter, Commercial Manager of the Floral Pavilion Theatre & Conference Centre
Want to join the Adept family?
Having already expanded from the Birmingham area into Liverpool, Warrington and Chester, and won some sizeable and prestigious contracts – including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and an office premises contract worth £80,000 a year – Adept is keen to take on more franchisees who will expand the operation further afield.
To find out more about becoming part of this well-respected and profitable management franchise, contact Alan Thomson on 01827 287100 or alan@adeptcleaninggroup.co.uk
Aug 8, 2011 | Clients in the Media
Coconut Creatives’ client news: Assist with Solutions takes a look at the business support market
There are over 4.5 million businesses in the UK, each with specific and different needs. Over 3 million of these are in the Small to Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) sector and are looking for ways to expand without having to commit to employing new staff and expensive training programmes. Traditionally, SMEs look to organisations such as Business Link for development opportunities but the reduction in Government grants and the withdrawal of funded support like Business Link, mean that SMEs will need to look to the private sector for solutions.
Assist with Solutions is a business consultancy franchise that is filling this role in a sector now worth £10 billion; providing support and advice to business owners wanting to develop and grow. At some point during their business cycle, companies need help in areas such as marketing, operations, finance or I.T. Assist with Solutions help them identify what they need and when, then they work with them to help make it happen. They help their clients to make money, save money and save time.
Andy MacDonald, MD of Assist with Solutions, explains: “We help business owners to achieve their dreams, goals and ambitions. It’s a little bit of business magic! Setting them free from the daily operational and growth headaches.”
Assist with Solutions has developed a simple-to-follow system for their franchisees that provides predictable results with the additional benefit of tapping in to over 50 years collective industry experience. Their training gives franchisees all of the management tools they need to be operational within six weeks. Franchisees operate in a Managing Director style position, so previous Directors and Managers of any business types are ideal for this franchise. They look out for prospective franchisees with certain key attributes:
- A good understanding of how a business operates
- Previous Management or Director experience
- Enjoy working in the B2B environment with clients & suppliers
- Enthusiasm to run a business & work with other business owners
- Passion to work on a business as much as in a business
- A drive to achieve success!
Andy adds: “We are currently achieving up to 50% net profit margins and so that we can continue our excellent level of support to win and keep clients, we are only looking to recruit 10 franchisees in 2011.”
To register for a discovery day or find out more email andy.macdonald@assistwithsolutions.co.uk or call 0844 669 8827.
Aug 8, 2011 | Clients in the Media
A New York Police Officer enjoys the Cafe2U experience
Coconut Creatives’ client news: Cafe2U launches in the USA whilst business in the UK booms
The world’s largest mobile coffee franchise Cafe2U has had a superb 2011 in the UK so far this year and the buzz is spreading across the pond! Tom Acland, UK Managing Director, has been celebrating the successes of their first 5 franchise partners to reach 5 years with all renewing their agreements for a further 5 years, as well as launching seven new Cafe2U franchises.
Cafe2U franchise partners are reaping the rewards across the UK. Faye Cochrane, who owns three Cafe2U vans in Edinburgh, celebrated her third year as a franchise partner by enjoying a record day on one of her vans recently with coffee sales up from the average by a whopping 58% for the day! Faye trades in the Edinburgh Park area of Edinburgh where her clients include HSBC, RBS, and Regus.
Rachel Wilson, Cafe2U Bristol, reports a large rise in the demand for flavoured coffees in 2011, with customers trying all sorts of different flavoured syrups and even cocktail combinations! Rachel, and her husband Gary, who were the 2010 Cafe2U Franchise Partners of the Year have customers who have designed their own drinks, which are now sold on the van! As a result of the fantastic range of flavours they can now offer in their great tasting Cafe2U coffee, sales have grown 67% from February to June 2011 and it shows no sign of slowing down.
As the nation’s favourite mobile coffee service, Cafe2U is seeing a large increase in demand from event organisers right across the UK in 2011 as they begin to realise that having great tasting espresso coffee, from a well-branded, professional, reliable and award-winning company is a crucial attraction to an event. Cafe2U have serviced school fetes, sports days, car rallies, Race for Life events, fun runs, outdoor theatre evenings, as well as Hollywood film sets and TV studios. Doug from Cafe2U Milton Keynes had a fantastic day at a Royal Wedding Street Party in April!
Tom Acland explains: “There has never been a better time to start a new Cafe2U business, with our low overheads and profitable business model, the Cafe2U business allows franchise partners to visit the customers, prompting them into the purchase decision rather than sitting and waiting for customers in the traditional manner. We have identified and mapped territory opportunities right across the UK, for single unit franchise partners as well as multi-territory management opportunities. Demand for great tasting espresso coffee, whilst at work or an event just keeps growing, and Cafe2U is the only company able to satisfy that demand in non-traditional locations up and down the country.”
The Cafe2U Acceleration Training and Launch program is another winner for franchise partners as it accelerates their business development by up to 3 months. With higher takings, larger customer bases, and more coffees sold, Cafe2U franchise partners see the success of their efforts far quicker.
And now, Cafe2U, has signed a Master Franchise deal for the USA. Australia’s Cafe2U Managing Director, Derek Black said: “We are so excited to finally be taking the brand to America! The US market represents a mature coffee market with many significant opportunities to stimulate growth. Consumers have been very welcoming of the mobile Cafe2U concept with one of our new American customers quoting: It’s even better than Starbucks!”
Cafe2U is tackling the US coffee scene with the upmost confidence and is certain that the partnership with their Master Franchisees will see rapid growth for the Cafe2U business into a significant worldwide coffee market.
Proudly born and bred in Australia, Cafe2U is already the world’s largest mobile coffee franchise – now poised to propel this domination quickly into America in 2011. Cafe2U has 110 mobile coffee vans in Australia and 55 in the UK and Ireland.
You can find our more by calling 0845 6444 708.
Aug 8, 2011 | Industry Events
Coconut Creatives’ client news: Driver Hire franchisees are excelling despite the economic downturn
According to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, despite the effects of recession, total turnover in the UK recruitment industry is almost £20bn a year, which means Driver Hire’s potential market place is enormous.
Even measured against its own 25-year plus track record, 2010/11 was a good year for Driver Hire. “Our business grew by nearly 23% last year,” says Chris Chidley, Driver Hire’s CEO. “From the perspective of many individual franchisees, the picture looks even better. At our Summer Conference in July 2011, we presented 25 offices with ‘best-ever’ annual sales awards, a remarkable performance.”
Market potential
Driver Hire is one of the UK’s most established franchise networks. This specialist provider of recruitment services has almost 100 offices around the UK and every day of the year supplies over 3,000 personnel, mainly drivers and other logistics staff, to organisations in the public and private sector.
Franchisees like Roy McLellan at Driver Hire Dundee are still seeing strong growth, even in the face of an uncertain UK economy. Turnover in mid-2011 is already 25% up on last year, when the business turned over £1.3m. As Roy explains, the economy actually works in favour of the Driver Hire business model: “It’s all about listening to your customers and delivering a service that responds to their specific needs. Right now, with unpredictable order books and rising fuel costs, they need to find ways of reducing their fixed costs and coping with varying demand. We can talk to them about the flexibility and cost benefits of using temps and our systems and selection processes mean they can be confident of getting the very best staff.”
Driver CPC
Another development in the past year has delivered a new, complementary revenue stream for Driver Hire franchisees. The Driver CPC is a new, compulsory qualification that all HGV drivers must now gain and then maintain with ongoing training. Spotting an opportunity, Driver Hire gained formal accreditation and developed an extensive suite of Driver CPC training modules.
Franchisees attended training courses and most now actively sell training services alongside their traditional recruitment services. The new initiative has been so successful that Driver Hire is now one of the UK’s largest providers of the training, with its franchisees and other trainers having delivered over 55,000 hours of training.
Investment Opportunity
All of this makes Driver Hire an attractive investment opportunity for anyone considering setting up their own business. In the first half of 2011, nine new franchisees have joined the network, in locations as far apart as Inverness and Plymouth.
Could a Driver Hire franchise be right for you? Well, Rowan Pritchard achieved the remarkable feat of becoming Driver Hire Franchisee of the Year in 2010, within just a couple of years of buying his franchise, in Romford. Here’s what he says about his experience:
“Recruitment is a unique business. I hadn’t been involved in it before I came into Driver Hire but the training I received from Head Office helped me enormously. I don’t consider myself to be a natural sales person, but I firmly believe in the Driver Hire brand and so I’m confident going out and promoting it. I then back that up with a personal commitment to deliver what I promise.
“I can honestly say that I love being in this business. If you’re looking for variety and constant challenge this is the place to be. No two days are ever the same. I still get real personal satisfaction from knowing that I’ve helped a customer and at the same time found work for one of my candidates. I’d recommend it to anyone.”
You can find out more about the Driver Hire franchise opportunity by calling 0844 846 0031. Alternatively, visit www.driverhire.co.uk/franchise or email franchise@driverhire.co.uk.
