Do you want to live the franchise dream?
By: Lorna, CEO, redwigwam
Taking on a franchise comes with a whole host of challenges and opportunities. Whether it’s a multi-national corporation or a small chain; a fast food outlet or estate agency, working under someone else’s banner has its fair share of pros and cons.
In this week’s article, I wanted to share how we’ve been working with franchisees to remove the headaches and free up resources to focus on turning a handsome profit.
Franchising is a style of business that can often polarise opinion. Check out any “be your own boss” type of guide and the list of pros and cons are often longer than your arm.
For any individual looking to set up their own enterprise, doing so under an established brand can cut out many of the obstacles that come with getting your business in the groove. From PR and marketing support to clearly defined procurement channels, franchisees can follow a roadmap for success.
Of course, running a franchise has less freedom than going it alone and there are a number of other costs and commissions that are commonly associated with taking on the name of a respected brand. And getting one’s head around all of the processes and procedures dictated by the franchisor can often be a real test of endurance. It certainly isn’t a business model that can be described as easy.
But in recent months we’ve been working closely with a number of franchisees to help them streamline one key area of their business that often goes unmentioned – staff resources.
In the food and hospitality sectors, in particular, staffing is notoriously hard to get right. Demand can fluctuate wildly from day to day and a regular customer base can take time to establish. For this reason, it’s important for a franchise to be able to flex their resources up and down as required, without sacrificing quality or speed of service.
As we began to explore the demands of the food service market in partnership with our fast food client, it became clear that staffing presented a few obvious challenges. More specifically, staffing could be:
- A drain on in-house resources
- An insurance, payroll and National Insurance headache
- Easy to get quality standards and vetting process wrong, getting a business into legal trouble
For many franchisees, the answer to this may once have been working with a temping agency. But for the fast-food market, in particular, the standard office hours worked by an agency simply weren’t flexible enough and the demand for staff at short notice could be too much for an agency.
After initial meetings with franchisees from one particular household name in takeaway food, it became clear that redwigwam’s innovative approach to temporary work fulfilment was precisely what these businesses needed.
Quite simply they wanted to know that they could meet customer demand without wasting precious income through over-resourcing. And this is something that our advanced system could offer them.
Fast-forward several weeks and the difference that we have made to these businesses has been profound. Very quickly we have become trusted partners, able to handle the logistical headaches of getting staff into roles quickly and flexibly.
By filling 98% of roles within just 4 hours, we can get drivers, cooks, administrators and front of house staff in place with minimum fuss.
Thanks to the unique way we match workers with hirers, we can ensure that the right personnel fill vacancies and maintain the high-quality customer service that is expected from large franchised brands. And because all workers are retained on our books, there are no issues with payroll, NI, insurance or vetting for the franchisees to worry about.
With thousands of staff registered with us across the entire spectrum of job roles, we are also fast-becoming a one-stop-shop for any new initiatives these franchises are looking to try.
For example, where they want drivers or to try a leaflet drop, we can provide staff on a one-off or regular basis to fulfil their delivery needs or flyering campaign.
Performance management
Monitoring the effectiveness of these flexible resources is, understandably, important for owners of franchises – particularly those who run a number of franchises across a region. Through our system, they are able to track resource allocation and analyse efficiency savings all in one place, which gives the business owner great insight and visibility.
Having 100% control over the ebb and flow of teams across multiple shops and outlets can be incredibly important where margins are tight and consumers can be fickle. Where a franchisee needs to be responsive, we can help them to implement changes quickly – be it a leaflet dropping campaign door to door or a last-minute flyering campaign in the local town centre.
A two-way street for workers
As every employer knows, getting the best from a workforce means treating them right and keeping them motivated. The fast-food industry is no exception and this is where we have been able to offer a very clear benefit to franchises. Our system not only offers to pay workers promptly for good work – within 24 hours where their employers have rated their work as 4/5 or 5/5 – but also allows the franchise owner to build in automated incentives for good work.
Incentives can be as simple as rewarding punctuality over the course of a month or even offering bonuses to a delivery driver able to make a certain number of drops within a given time frame.
Surely, all this extra functionality comes at a cost?
Not at all. At redwigwam we have invested heavily in the technology that powers our online system. For hirers and workers alike, this means a more streamlined, efficient and ultimately more cost-effective model for the temporary work market. Our costs are transparent throughout the process and we are proud to be able to offer one of the most competitive booking rates on the market at just 9%.
Of course, the real savings are made within the business itself. With fewer hours wasted on resourcing one or more franchises and more time spent on being productive, our hirers are already seeing significant growth.
