Female friendly

FiltaFry Plus welcomes female franchisees into its growing network

FiltaFry Plus has perhaps been associated with being a maledominated business model in the past. However, 2008 saw its first female franchisees join the company’s successful and ever-growing network in the UK.

Last April The Filta Group welcomed aboard Karen Herbert from Bridgend in South Wales, who has taken over the ‘CF’ postcodes, and Deborah Bixter from Rugby, who has taken over the ‘CV’ postcodes.

TECHNIQUE

Karen and Deborah had some reservations at first about whether they would be physically strong enough to move the highly specialised equipment around with ease, but soon realised that this is down to technique and not brute strength.

Now both women have settled into the franchise well and are developing their businesses in line with their original goals. Deborah is eventually looking for a management role by having a number of operatives in the ‘CV’ postcode, which she plans to develop over a three-year period.

We managed to catch up with both Karen and Deborah between jobs to discuss their experiences with FiltaFry Plus so far.

Deborah, who has previous experience in the catering industry, says that from the outset she could see the benefits of the FiltaFry service due to the significant price increases in cooking oil and the savings that catering establishments would be able to make using FiltaFry Plus. She says: “Due to the economic climate, this made it an easy decision for me when choosing the franchise opportunity.”

Deborah, who has also had a career in customer services, understands that the success of the franchise is all about being able to offer a high level of service and going that extra mile for your customers. Since taking on the franchise, she has attracted customers such as the Ricoh Arena, home to Coventry City FC, and Ikea.

Prior to investing in her FiltaFry Plus franchise, Karen had taken time out from care work to bring up her daughter. She was finding it increasingly difficult to work her hours around school times, which eventually lead her to FiltaFry Plus.

Karen says that FiltaFry Plus is a franchise that does not need to be worked 9-5 - the times that you arrange your jobs for can be fitted in and around your family life. Says Karen: “I can always find different customers for any hour of the day or night, which will be good if I decide to double-shift the van.”

She says that the repeat business element of the franchise is what she likes most about the concept. “Once you have 35-40 customers you have a full van with decent earning potentials,” says Karen. She also says that her overheads are relatively low and bringing her partner, Ian, on board will only increase their overheads slightly while the rest is profit.

Karen explains that her experience with the Filta Group so far has been everything and more than she expected to receive, particularly in the early days with support from the head office team. Karen is currently servicing such clients as Panasonic, Ford, Ikea and Bosch, among many others.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information call 01788 513080, email franchise@filtafryplus.co.uk or visit www.filtafryplus.co.uk

FiltaFry Plus gets off to a flying start in 2009

This year has started well for the everdeveloping and growing FiltaFry Plus network in the UK. In January the company recruited and trained three sets of new franchisees around the country.

Father and son team, Paul and Maurice Brown, have taken over the Milton Keynes territory. Paul is concentrating on the service provision side of the business, while Maurice is concentrating on developing and promoting the service locally.

Paul Mountford from Stoke-On-Trent was so keen to join the FiltaFry network that he has relocated to Broadstairs in Kent as there were no available territories local to him at the time. He has chosen to take two full postcode territories, with the intention of developing a multi-van business.

Darren Penfold from Bournemouth also came on board in January and bought the ‘BH’ and ‘SO’ postcodes. Darren has employed a family friend to service the customers while he splits his time between promoting the service and studying.

All of the new franchisees are doing well and are on course with their personal business development plans.