And how do you advertise it?
We’ve got quite a large online subscriber base and a loyalty program which we introduced sort of at a similar time so we send out quite regular email newsletters or email blasts at least monthly. We’ve got, for example, in Queensland and also one I think down in Frankston here a demo with a new product that we’re just putting into store. So we’re doing a sort of knowledge-based class on this particular product which is quite a technical product. So we’ve sent that out via email to people and have taken bookings.
And what conversion rate, what’s a sort of good percentage turnout from that email?
We’re not really looking for that many people, the store’s not big so we’ve got a dozen or 15 people coming which is pretty good for us. We couldn’t fit much more in the shop anyway.
And who are the people that you have demonstrating, are they chefs?
Yes. For that particular one we outsource chefs from a third-party supplier and we have two or three people that work for us permanently both in-store and are qualified chefs so we’ve got one of our staff who is like a roving chef and he educates our staff.
We train up our staff to do basic demonstrations as well so we’ve got a couple of people that can do that that are employed by us. And we also have an agreement with a third-party cooking school that do cooking demos for us.
And loyalty clubs I assume have had some success in getting those repeat customers?
Yes exactly, and it’s more about being able to communicate with the customers on a regular basis.
What’s your best advice for managing franchisees? What are the ways to strengthen those relationships?
It’s a good point because for us the relationships we have with our franchisees is such an important, integral part of what we do as a business because obviously they are the frontline face to the public.
Our franchisee network is not huge so myself and my brother, as owners of the business, still have quite a lot of direct contact with franchisees and we’re more than happy to do that and that really helps that they can speak to anyone, anytime.
What we have done I think that’s been a good initiative, and it’s only quite new for us, is we’ve just put together what we call our franchise advisory board. So we’ve got representatives of the franchise network of each state that we operate in and we have a quarterly get together.
It’s a bit more structured than it was in the past so what that does is it enables those sort of elected delegates, I suppose you’d call them, to get feedback from the other franchisees in that state. We have an agenda but they come with a prearranged feedback list and then they’re able to go back with the results of those meetings.
So that’s got the communication levels to a more efficient level and I think it’s good for franchisees to feel that they can contribute and have a voice because everyone wants to have an opinion and sometimes people are often too busy to listen all the time and have a set time when all those issues and points and suggestions are addressed. Often it’s just a matter of ideas that come up that are good ones that we could implement across the board and you don’t often get to hear them.
Is that something that the franchisees were pushing for?
I think it’s a reasonably common practise among franchise groups but one of our new area managers who came into the system quite recently was quite keen to give it a go. So she took it up and we ran with it from there.
And finally, what are your growth targets for the year?
By Christmas next year, 2012, we’re hoping to put onboard between six and eight shops.
Thanks for your time.
Smart Company is a sister publication to The Mandarin, catering to Australia’s entrepreneurs, small and medium business owners and business managers.
