Souvlakihut stores transferred under Astera Consortium
The sale of the Souvlakihut franchise system with some stores officially transferred under the sale agreement to the new owner, the Astera Consortium.
The new owners are continuing to work with some of the remaining franchisees in an endeavor to find ways to help them to stay into the network.
New CEO, Sophie Valkan said: “We hope to be able to provide more franchisees from the network with the opportunity for them to salvage their businesses by working with us to restructure their expenses. These franchisees have been amazing in their commitment to the brand and we would love nothing more than to have them join us in the new Souvlakihut business.
Ms Valkan said: “While we can’t take on all franchisees, we are working with some and doing all we can to try and put them in a viable situation that enables them to take control of their business and run it profitably – that is after all the essence of a strong franchise relationship.
“We are retaining great operational skills in many of the head office staff who have felt hamstrung in their efforts to assist franchisees while the franchisor was in financial distress. We have a great base to start with including some amazing people as franchisees. It was a valuable experience to meet personally with all of them during our short due diligence period.”
“We have had some challenges and the time frames we have had to work to have frustrated some things we would like to have achieved on behalf of the people that really matter, our franchisees. Our agenda going forward will be the same as our focus during this period of due diligence – that is our franchisees, our staff, our suppliers and our customers.”
A summary of the initiatives that the new Owners have taken already, illustrating their commitment to the network, includes:
- Negotiated substantial cost savings that represent major cashflow relief into the pockets of our franchisees.
- Retaining the tremendous operational and administration staff and in doing so we have elected to voluntarily honour the leave entitlements owed to those staff transferring across from the previous owners.
- Undertaken to absorb over a quarter of a million dollars in territory fees paid by new franchisees to the former franchisor – these monies were effectively lost by these people but we have elected to honour their contracts.
- Covering the travel costs of franchisees from interstate because we wanted to spend time with these people and understand the position of their business and their views on the systems and the network. We needed to meet with them personally to make sure we had as much information as possible on which to base our decisions.
- The team of new owners and the CEO have worked tirelessly for weeks to review the business with a view to turning it into a strong model with a solid foundation. There is still much to do and we are excited by the prospect of continuing to make the necessary changes to ensure our franchisees are able to build successful businesses.
Early in the New Year the new owners will be looking to implement some changes that are designed to deliver immediate improvements to the concept and franchisees. These will be followed by a thorough review of the business and with a view to rejuvenating the brand, making it better and more appealing to the wider public.
