The UK Franchise Directory 22nd Edition was successfully launched at the British & International Franchise Exhibition with a number of prospective franchise owners keen to get their hands this year’s must have publication.  The directory is the complete guide to franchising in the UK and was well received at the exhibition with people interested in becoming franchise owners. The UK Franchise Directory publishes new statistics on the size of the UK franchise industry in its new 22nd edition and among its findings are:

• The current number of franchised businesses in the UK is 84,274
• Franchisors are seeking to grant a further 190,754 franchises to aspiring business  owners across the UK to complete their networks
• There are now 1,402 companies offering franchise opportunities (franchisors) in the  UK, 857 of which are actively recruiting franchise owners
• The average investment requirement for a franchise business is £45,655

The 22nd edition of The UK Franchise Directory showcases the booming franchise industry with listings of all UK and Irish franchisors, including McDonald’s, Subway, Cash Generator, Northwood and ChipsAway.  With advisory features from industry professionals and a Franchise Buyer’s Checklist, the directory is the most trusted resource for serious prospective franchise owners in the UK.

The directory’s publisher Roy Seaman says: “Data collected by the British Franchise Association found that 9 out of 10 franchise owners operate a profitable business and 25 per cent of those turn over £500,000 or more.  These high success rates coupled with the growing number of people being made redundant nationwide has had a positive effect on the franchise industry with more people taking the plunge and becoming their own boss.”

“Franchising encompasses a broad range of industries and business types and with so much choice and information available it can be quite daunting to know where to start.  The UK Franchise Directory 22nd edition provides information on 159 food and beverage franchises, 159 retail franchises and 1,073 service franchises.  It’s a franchise information goldmine and is packed with expert advice and guidance to help prospective franchise owners begin an exciting journey into the world of franchising.”

Franchise company ChipsAway International’s Chief Executive Lloyd Evans adds: “The UK Franchise Directory provides clear, concise information for potential franchise owners in an easily accessible format.  We have advertised in the directory for a number of years and have found it to be a consistently high performing recruitment vehicle for us.  It has generated high quality enquiries for ChipsAway year after year and, without doubt, The UK Franchise Directory has been one of the top performers for us.”

To purchase a copy of The UK Franchise Directory, please click here.

One hopeful franchisee found little to choose between a number of care franchises until she found Prestige Nursing.

Following a highly successful career in medical device sales, both in the UK and previously in her native South Africa, Carol Stafford was looking to change direction after being made redundant in 2008.  Carol decided she wanted to take on a new challenge and has always been attracted to the idea of franchising. Carol takes up the story ‘I have a lot of experience in sales and was looking to move into an industry that allowed me to exploit these talents whilst offering the potential for significant earnings.’ Having already decided that franchising was a perfect way of helping her realise these ambitions, she was taken aback by the number of opportunities on offer. ‘I was looking for a management franchise, and eventually settled on the care sector as it offered excellent long term prospects given the UK’s demographic profile and the growing need for care at home. I hadn’t realised though quite how many companies offered franchises in the domiciliary and healthcare sectors and the choice was quite bewildering.’

Carol came very close to signing up with a domiciliary care franchise, but just before she did she heard about Prestige Nursing and decided to see what they could offer. “Their honesty, drive and professionalism made a real impact on me, as did their experience of running both company-owned and franchised branches.” After the initial meeting with the franchise team at Prestige, Carol met and talked with many of the existing franchisees. ‘Their feedback on the support I would receive was overwhelmingly positive as was their experience of the Prestige business model’

Unlike many domiciliary care franchises, Prestige Nursing offers the complimentary area of healthcare recruitment as an additional income stream for all franchisees. Jonathan Bruce, Managing Director, explains why this is so important “Domiciliary care is undoubtedly an area that offers significant opportunities and with our experience in this area we feel very confident that we can offer franchisees a full range of distinctive services to take advantage of them. However, it does take time to develop this type of business which is why offering healthcare recruitment can not only allow franchisees to generate income more quickly, but also gives them an even wider range of services to offer their clients and spreads the risk accordingly.”

“To be honest this was one of the main reasons why I chose Prestige’ states Carol “ along with the fact that they offer a comprehensive back office support function as part of the ongoing management fee. This will save me an immense amount of time and allow me the freedom to grow my business quickly and effectively. I’ll be joining an established network of company-owned and franchised branches across the UK which has a real reputation for excellence, and this fills me confidence as well”

With her new business about to launch, how does she feel about the opportunity now? “Well I’ve just finished training and I can’t wait to get started” says Carol “Prestige has been with me every step of the way so far and I’ve already had enquiries coming in to the business and we haven’t even launched yet! The research we conducted prior to setting up has allowed us to target our efforts to where we know they’ll have most effect.”

As Carol discovered you do not need previous experience of the healthcare industry to make a successful franchise business with Prestige Nursing. Pam Feltham, Franchise Manager at Prestige explains, ‘Our leading franchised branch is owned by someone who originally trained to be a railway designer. Like many of our new franchisees he realised that a franchise with Prestige Nursing was an excellent investment vehicle and one that would allow him to blend his own flair for business with the experience, support and systems of a seasoned franchisor.”

So will the Prestige Nursing franchise be for everyone? Pam thinks not, “In terms of the initial investment of £30,000 and the working capital requirement of up to £45,000 we sit towards the top end of current healthcare franchises. However, you get what you pay for and we push our franchisees hard to ensure they are every bit as successful as they have told us they want to be.”

Recruitment consultancy franchise Additional Resources is expanding its nationwide recruitment drive and seeks hardworking, tenacious franchise owners to join its growing network following three years of sustained growth.

New franchise owner Kerry Newcombe operates  from Hull. He is thrilled with his decision to invest in the Additional Resources franchise. He says: “I have been delighted with the consultative and caring approach. The levels of support, practical advice and encouragement have quite exceeded my expectations  – if you are serious about making a real, long term difference to your working life and income, then I would recommend
this way of doing it.”

Established Watford-based franchise owner Tam Tanna is also impressed. She comments: “Prior to joining, I had spoken to many other companies offering a similar service but nobody compared to Additional Resources. Additional Resources do exactly what they say plus more and there is definitely no catch.  They have provided me with a one-stop shop service enabling me to run a professional and all bases covered recruitment business and they really do make you feel part of a team and are extremely down to earth, friendly and always willing to help. I would highly recommend them.”

Top Honors in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 Listing for 2009.

Maintaining its long-standing top rankings, WSI, the world’s largest Internet consulting firm ranks for the 9th consecutive year as the #1 Internet Business in Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2009 Franchise 500 listing. The coveted position in Entrepreneur’s ‘Best-of-the-Best’ features WSI at the top in the Technology category. Additional honors in this year’s listing rank WSI amongst the ‘Top Twelve Home Based’, ‘Top 50 Global’ and ‘Top 57 Overall’ franchise businesses.

With a network of over 1500 WSI franchise owners (Internet Marketing Consultants) in 87 countries and growing steadily, it is no surprise that the company is also mentioned as one of the ‘fastest-growing franchises’ in the Entrepreneur listing. Ron McArthur, president WSI says, “In today’s high-tech economy, we offer one of the few ‘white collar’ franchises available anywhere today. We are delighted with the latest Entrepreneur listing which is testimony to our leadership position and our efforts to constantly enhance the same.” WSI franchise owners benefit from one of the most complete and comprehensive training and certification programs available anywhere today. A dynamic on-going support program is tailored to meet the unique and individual needs of each new franchise owner. “This, coupled with a highly effective mentoring system has allowed our franchise owners the greatest success in the shortest amount of time,” Ron emphasizes.

WSI’s international franchise owners are at the forefront of the opportunities the internet offers to business owners, which changes the way the world does business. WSI delivers thousands of internet marketing solutions to small and medium sized businesses annually. WSI Consultants are trained to deliver a results oriented internet marketing system driving targeted traffic to their client’s websites and creating greater customer conversion for them. McArthur says, “Our message to the SME market is that whether or not you use diverse internet marketing methods like pay-per-click advertising, landing pages, viral marketing campaigns, etc., you can always think of your website as your primary marketing vehicle. The job of each WSI franchise owner is to assess their clients’ business needs using WSI’s patent-pending Internet Solutions Lifecycle™ system. Each client’s internet marketing solution is then customized to both reduce business overheads and increase revenues.”

WSI is committed to the profitability of its franchise network and the SME business world. Its ongoing corporate initiatives towards this goal contribute to the company’s long-standing and continuing excellence in the industry’s most well recognized franchise listing. Recognized by entrepreneurs and franchisors as the most comprehensive listing available, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 in its January 2009 issue reveals for the 30th straight year the latest top-ranking franchise companies in North America and WSI is proud to achieve the rankings that it did in this latest listing.

Leading contract cleaning franchisor Jani-King has launched a unique ‘Product Innovation Programme’ for their franchise network that enables franchise owners to carry out cleaning demonstrations in specific areas of contract cleaning to new and existing customers. Supported by tactical marketing, franchise owners can now use these demonstrations to generate ‘extra work’ which will help, increase their turnover and their profits.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to product innovation and growth in the UK, we are developing these new technologies, services and initiatives all the time. Our investments back into our network of franchise owners are designed to ‘add value’ to their businesses without costing them a penny extra. Other franchises in our sector just concentrate on specific areas of cleaning and make a full time business out of it. At Jani-King we want to offer those niche areas of cleaning within our package. Our new unique ‘Product Innovation Programme’ allows us to do that and also allows franchise owners with the right drive and initiative, to generate their own ‘extra work’ alongside our guaranteed turnover model and increase turnover and profits. We are very excited and positive about the future of our business despite the current economic climate.” explains Jani-King Chairman Ian Thomas.

“Commercial cleaning is a recession-resilient industry, which makes this an excellent time to invest in a contract cleaning franchise.  Jani-King is a truly national and international business and serves some of the biggest brands in the UK retail, leisure and hospitality market. With a strong brand presence and our ‘Product Innovation Programme’ underway, we are confident and continuing to look for motivated franchise partners with a commercial background and a desire to build a £1million + business within a proven structure” Thomas expands.

“The Jani-King franchise has always been popular because it can be operated on very low overheads and is a cost-variable format. However, with the added value of our ‘Product Innovation Programme’ we are anticipating an exciting 2009. I encourage all motivated individuals and entrepreneurs to get in touch as we continue to be a leader in this industry” concludes Thomas“.