Zarraffa’s reveals secret to multi-unit franchising success
Find out how they handle the high input cost.
Zarraffa’s Coffee recognised the brand’s top franchisees for 2013, during the company’s annual National Franchise Conference last 3rd September 2013.
The “Franchisee of the Year’ award went to multi-unit franchise owners, Terry and Jeanette Bambury, who have a total of four Zarraffa’s Coffee stores in their portfolio.
Read the full report here.
QSR Media spoke with James Barritt, Zarraffa’s Coffee Executive Director, to find out more about the brand’s multi-unit franchising and the success it has been experiencing.
QSR Media: Tell us a bit more about the success of your multi-unit franchisees within the Zarraffa's brand.
Barritt: The success of the brand is underscored by the numbers of both the staff that work in the system before becoming a franchisee, and by the franchisees themselves, who continually reinvest.
And it’s not as simple as merely having the funds available to buy another franchise, multi-unit holders have to illustrate a proven successful track record, in addition to maintaining good scores in all benchmarking for store operations.
QSR Media: Multi-unit franchisees, is this an area of growth for Zarraffa’s?
Barritt: While it’s not a focus for the business, it makes sense for us to look at franchisees who have a current store and are meeting their operational and financial benchmarks.
QSR Media: Who is suited to multi-unit franchising?
Barritt: We generally find that those franchisees who are excelling in their marketing practice and operation of the store tend to be more suited to multi-unit franchising.
These attributes allow them to trust in the franchising procedures that their staff will then follow, and releases the franchisee to focus on an area that will further enhance the store, such as marketing, in order to drive new customers.
QSR Media: How do they make it successful given high input costs?
Barritt: This is mostly due to an ability to share and leverage costs between stores to reduce the cost of goods and operating costs.
Ultimately, however, our high percentage of multi-unit franchisees is testament to our systems and robust Zarraffa’s business model.
QSR Media: What would you say are some of the challenges and opportunities associated with multi-unit franchising?
Barritt: The opportunities are that the franchisee is often able to leverage costs between the stores to reduce cost of goods, and also pool marketing funds to cross-promote between the stores.
Challenges include handing over the running of the store to a manager, which subsequently means less time working in the business and it then takes more managing at a higher level.
