Christmas is most definitely the time of year to enjoy some well earned time off work, take pleasure in having a break from the office, spending time with loved ones and indulging in all your favourite things.

New Year is the time for re-evaluating your circumstances, identifying the areas of your life you’d like to improve and making those all important New Years resolutions.

For many, January is the time to start thinking about a career change however, with numerous roles failing to materialise as budgets are cut, many are turning to investing franchising.

Franchising is a proven business process with a higher success rate than starting your own business, providing you with the independence of being your own boss so that you can plan your work load around spending time with your family or leisure activities.

With cost reduction being the number one issue facing the UK economy, there has never been a better time to take the step into self-employment and invest in your own ability with Expense Reduction Analysts.

An Expense Reduction Analysts’ franchise could be the ideal option for you as it offers;

• The freedom of being your own boss whilst having support from the franchisor
• A low overhead business you can run from home
• Substantial earnings that truly reflect your efforts
• A better work life balance, meaning you can take more holidays and time off
• A service that businesses are interested in regardless of the economic climate

Your skills and ambition, combined with Expense Reduction Analysts’ knowledge, tools, training and support brought together in our dynamic business structure, can provide you with the formula for success that you are looking for.

To find out how you can become an Expense Reduction Analyst Franchised Consultant benefitting from a better work/life balance and incredible earning potential, click here to request more information.

In line with their vision of providing highly professional support services to business owners’ in the SME sector, fast growing and dynamic franchisor Assist With Solutions have partnered with the UK’s winner of ‘Large Independent Financial Advisers 2011’ award, in an agreement that will open up a complete portfolio of additional products and revenue streams for all existing and new Assist With Solutions franchisees.

This agreement comes soon after reaching agreement with RSM Tenon plc, the UK’s largest provider of Recovery/Turnaround services in the SME sector, in an extremely exciting growth phase for the company and their franchisees.

Andy MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer of Assist With Solutions said, “This historic agreement will have a huge positive impact on future earning capabilities for our franchisees and ensure that their future clients will receive the utmost care and professionalism in all areas of financial requirement during their business development cycle.”

Caremark (Aylesbury & Wycombe), a home care provider in Buckinghamshire, has recently signed a Preferred Provider Contract with Bucks Social Services to provide care and support to children and young people. The service will be giving specialist care and support to young individuals living at home, who have physical and/or learning disabilities, behavioural difficulties, or other special needs, some of which may be life limiting.

Caremark (Aylesbury & Wycombe) will commence provision of Care services to this very vulnerable sector of society this week thus providing valuable support to another ‘in need’ sector of their local community. Caremark (Aylesbury & Wycombe) has worked hard over the preceding months building and training a specialist team of care workers who will be responsible for providing the care and support to their young customers.

“We are extremely pleased that our planning and preparation for provision of care in this complex area has borne fruit and we are excited about expanding our quality services to one of the most vulnerable sections of society,” commented Janis Anderson, MD Caremark (Aylesbury & Wycombe).

Having registered earlier in the summer with the Care Quality Commission to provide care for children, Caremark (Aylesbury & Wycombe) are looking forward to adding this specialist service to their growing portfolio of customers.

For further information on the Caremark franchise opportunity, please click here.

£745,000 from a single showroom secures top prize at annual awards.
For a brand that has grown by almost 20 per cent this year, December’s Dream Doors Christmas Conference provided the perfect platform to celebrate. Top of the tree were Dream Doors Oxford’s Mike and Elaine Hurley, who walked away with an unprecedented triple trophy haul that included the coveted ‘Franchisee of the Year’ award for the showroom with the highest annual turnover.

Taking the top award for the first time with sales of £745,000 – and one stand out day in September that secured £69,000 and the award for the most ‘Outstanding Monthly Performance’ – the Hurleys beat their closest rival by more than £100,000. Holiday vouchers and luxury hampers were warmly received, but it was the people’s choice, or ‘Player’s Player’ trophy that the couple will cherish the most, an award voted for by all 40 Dream Doors franchisees.

“We knew about the ‘Franchisee of the Year’ award because everyone’s figures are published for the whole network to see,” says Elaine. “But we really didn’t expect the other ones, particularly the ‘Player’s Player’ award. That one really meant a lot. It was quite an emotional moment for us since we were chosen as winners by our peers, and not just as a result of our financial performance.”

“This does make it all worthwhile,” she adds. “We’ve been under pressure lately, managing the logistics and installations that follow such high sales. And with Christmas coming and a holiday planned we’ve not had much time to reflect on our achievements. This is real reward for all that effort, and we’ll be enjoying all three hampers well into the New Year.”

Amongst the other prizes handed out during the black-tie ceremony were the ‘Checkatrade Award’ for the branch that demonstrated the best in customer care, the ‘Head Office Award’ for the franchisee that had given most support back to the brand, and the self-explanatory ‘Most Improved Franchisee’ won by Dream Doors Bath’s Ivor McKeown.

Ivor said: “I’m totally shocked. The award was a real surprise for us, but it’s an accurate reflection of the year we’ve had. The first half of 2011 was pretty poor, and May was the worst month we’ve had in three years of trading. But since then things have just got better and better. The head office directed online marketing has helped by generating lots more internet based enquiries. But more importantly I have total belief in Dream Doors and the products and the service we provide. Customers want to see that and respond to enthusiasm and belief. Plus I couldn’t do this if I didn’t enjoy it, and I really love what I do.”

The UK’s leading children’s activity franchise, The Creation Station, announced the award of 11 new franchises to mums during the months of September and November 2011. The ‘Licence to Inspire’ children’s imaginations’ enables the 11 women to run their own art and crafts activity franchise within their local community and to start 2012 with their own ready-made inspiring business.

The 11 mums come from across the UK and are launching their Creation Station franchise within their local towns. Helen Silva is from Exeter, Debbie Collins is from Chester, Susan Hammond is from South Bristol, Susan Hicks is from Durham, Erika Doerksen is from Ipswich, Christine Cox is from Solihull, Ann Berry is from North Ipswich, Louise Platt is from Bedfordshire, Naomi Savory is from Southport, Debbie Miodonski is from Chelmsford and Cath Allen is from County Antrim.

Susan Hicks said: “I was looking for an opportunity that would give me flexibility around my family needs, but at the same time provide a good income” states Hicks from Durham. “I came across The Creation Station and both my husband and I felt it ticked all the boxes for us as a family. For me, I love the brand ethos and all the people involved are very supportive and helpful.”

Cath Allen from County Antrim in Northern Ireland was recently made redundant and was looking to run her own business to enable her to have more time with her daughter.

“I’m really excited to be the first to bring The Creation Station to Northern Ireland. I completed my training just three weeks ago and have already delivered a Creation Station Arty Party, which was really good fun, I have another booked for this Saturday too,” stated Allen. “The response to the Little Explorer and Baby Discovery art and craft classes has been really positive. I am starting 2012 with classes planned within the local community centres in Crumlin and Lilburn. I feel I have turned the difficult situation of redundancy around and I am now really looking forward to an inspiring 2012.”

The Creation Station is the UK’s leading children’s art and craft activity provider. With over 50 Creation Station franchise owners delivering art and crafts experiences for families and organisations within communities across the UK. The creative experiences include; Baby Discovery, Little Explorers and Family Fun classes, Arty Birthday Party entertainment plus activities at events. The Creation Station was established in 2002 by multi award-winner and mum to three, Sarah Cressall. The Creation Station is an affiliated member of the British Franchise Association and is running the children’s centre at the British Franchise Exhibitions throughout 2012 to support women and families that are considering franchising. For more information about franchise opportunities and the arts and crafts experiences of The Creation Station, click here.

Corporate caterers, Jasper’s Newcastle, are celebrating after scooping Franchisee of the Year at the prestigious 2011 Startups Awards, sponsored by Natwest. The awards ceremony took place at Kensington Roof Gardens on December 2, 2011.

Managing Director of Jasper’s Newcastle, Sue Burrows, said: “2011 has been a fantastic year for us. Our business is running smoothly with a strong customer base and we have added some big contract wins. In fact, the business has proved so successful that we are now planning to open our second Jasper’s franchise in Newcastle, run by our daughter Claire.”

Jasper’s Corporate Catering provide fresh, quality buffet food to business customers for events such as lunches, meetings, training and conferences; as well as vending and on-site catering such as workplace canteens and coffee shops. It is now franchising across the UK.

The Startups Awards finalists were judged on criteria such as sales volume, visionary leadership and social and community responsibility. The judges believed that: “Jasper’s Newcastle are stand-out winners of the Franchisee of the Year award. Started by a mother and daughter team who initially wore chef’s whites and hairnets in the morning while making the lunches; drivers hats at lunchtime to deliver the food; and business suits in the afternoon for cold-calling new customers; they now employ a team of 20 over three locations. Their growth in turnover and profitability are commendable as is their tenacity to continue striving while companies around them are closing.”

Steph Welstead, editor of Startups, said: “We were blown away by the standard of entries to this year’s Startups Awards. All of the businesses who made it to the 2011 final have shown innovation, guts and determination and the success they have achieved against the backdrop of the economic downturn is a true testament to the strength of UK entrepreneurship.

“Competition was fierce but the judges felt that each one of our winners had demonstrated sheer brilliance. Their stories will provide much inspiration both to people who are looking to start a business and to those who have already taken the plunge.”

Jasper’s Corporate Catering has come up trumps in the inaugural Best Franchise Awards, winning Best Growing Franchisor. The awards are based on an industry-wide study of franchisee satisfaction to understand which franchisors best deliver on their promises, have proven franchise systems and offer franchisees excellent financial and non-financial rewards.

Steven Frost, from the independent franchise research firm that runs the awards, said: “What makes these awards unique is they are based on what the real experts think – actual franchisees who work in those businesses day-in-day-out and their first hand experiences. The four franchisors recognised in this year’s awards are in an elite group and represent the very best franchise opportunities in the UK today.”

Jasper’s scored an impressive 90% overall satisfaction rating from its franchisees against an industry average of 69%; and also scored above the industry average on 27 of 28 criteria, with 100% satisfaction for 17 areas including: proven system, training and support, the Brand, products and services, maintaining standards, innovation, respect, trust, confidence and communication.

The industry-wide study of franchisee satisfaction on which the Best Franchise awards was based is known as the Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark. It involved gathering feedback from over 1,000 franchisees. Franchisors from all corners of commerce participated, ranging from children’s sports coaching to business coaching; from lawn care to domiciliary care; and from retail to accountancy.

Nathan Siekierski, Director of Jasper’s, said: “Being able to compare our catering franchise model to the industry standards is something new and refreshing in the franchising world. Winning an award based on franchisee opinions is the icing on the cake and makes the hard work of the Jasper’s team worthwhile.”

Home Instead Senior Care have become accustomed to success in recent months, following recognition for franchise owners Catharine and Mike Chalton who were announced as bfa Franchisee of the year 2011 in October and November’s award at the Home Instead Senior Care international franchise partner conference; the business has now been awarded the Best Franchise System in the Best Franchise Awards 2011.

The satisfaction of over 1,000 franchisees was surveyed by bfa Affiliated Franchise Consultants and the results were ordered in three main categories: Franchise System, Training and Support and Recommendation. Home Instead Senior Care was a finalist in the Training and Support category and was crowned winner in the Best Franchise System category.

Commenting on the award Managing Director Trevor Brocklebank said: “At Home Instead Senior Care we have always believed that good franchisors should both guide and be guided by their franchise owners. By surveying franchisees regularly we are aware of the things that we do well in supporting our network and also understand the areas where they need more assistance.”

Dan Archer collected the award and commented: “Our Company has a significantly different approach to the provision of an essential service for which there is a rapidly expanding demand, in this situation a sound business system is important for success and to have our system recognised as industry leading is a great accolade. These independent awards are made doubly important because the winners are assessed by considering the satisfaction of their franchisees and the franchisees of other franchise models.”

Home Instead Senior Care has grown substantially in the last 12 months as franchisees have realised the opportunity presented by an expanding home care market. In closing Trevor Brocklebank said: “It is critical for us as the business expands that we retain our focus on supporting our franchise owners effectively. Our care services are considered industry leading because we have a high number caregivers to clients. Measuring franchisee satisfaction also allows us to ensure that our services as a franchisor are also market leading.”

For more information on the Home Instead Senior Care click here.

Silver Springs Soft Drinks is the third largest, independent soft drinks manufacturer in the UK, based in Kent. With a workforce of around 140, they produce a number of branded drinks including such household names as Perfectly Clear, 1870 Mixes, Pulsar Isotonic, Fruit Squeeze and Stripes Cola, as well as many own brand drinks for major supermarkets. Formerly, Silver Spring Mineral Water Company, a fourth generation family business, it was bought out of administration in September 2009 and a new management team installed.

With over 200 specialists covering the country, Auditel can deliver its fully independent cost and purchase management services to clients in well over 100 areas of business costs. They were initially engaged by CEO Gary West at the time of the purchase to ensure continuity of the electricity supply for the new company. “Faced with an extremely precarious situation, including the threat of disconnection, a significant increase in security deposit and uncompetitive terms, we were pleased to call upon Auditel’s expertise. Their team worked with us to ensure a successful outcome. In the process they re-wrote the rule book with a major energy provider, establishing a way forward.”

Due to the success of the electricity project, Auditel were engaged to assess Silver Spring’s spend over a basket of 14 additional areas. The five-member team was augmented by other Auditel consultants who contributed their specialist knowledge. Auditel also recommended two of their highly respected strategic partners with suitable professional and statutory qualifications to assist with insurance and business rates. The insurance renewal cost significantly less with improved and additional cover. A substantial reduction was obtained on business rates with guaranteed refunds in the future.

In the first 10 months, savings on these two areas and others, including electricity, mobiles, landline calls, pallets and stationery have exceeded £266,000 and are increasing substantially month by months. Further cost reductions will be realised as other projects are implemented.

Gary West sums up: “In order to make Silver Spring profitable again, one of my key objectives was to ensure that the non-core business assets were streamlined and kept under control. Auditel have not only made us more profitable, but have also become a sounding board and a valuable extension to our management and procurement teams.”

Established in 1994, Auditel is the premier cost and purchase management consultancy in the UK with over 3,500 clients ranging from small businesses to global brands such as Pizza Express, YMCA and Oxford University. Their services include a free Business Health Check which consists of an examination of all expenditures associated with making effective cost management decisions. This free service coupled with their performance-driven contingency fee model, means the service is totally self-funding. There are no up-front fees, no hidden charges and no extras.

Jasper’s Newcastle franchisees Sue and Dave Burrow are rounding off a fantastic year by being named finalists for Franchisee Business of the Year in the Startups Awards 2011.

Sue and Dave launched their Jasper’s catering franchise at the end of 2008 and have gone from strength to strength, despite opening in the worst recession since the war. They were profitable in their first year and as they head into their fourth, are well on their way to being a £1m turnover business. Such is the demand for their catering services that they are planning to open their second Jasper’s franchise in 2012, which will be run by their daughter Claire.

Their success is especially impressive when you consider that the North East has got the lowest business start up rates in the country. In 2009, there were just 5.7 business start-ups per 1,000 of the population, compared to a national average of 7.9. And the region has also seen a 17.5% fall in start-ups since 2004.

Jasper’s Newcastle is bucking the regional trend though. The franchise provides catering services to more than 100 corporate clients and also provides vending solutions, office sundries and on-site catering. They recently won a three year contract with the BIC in Sunderland, worth £800k, to provide on-site catering facilities for their 350 staff, along with hospitality services.

Being shortlisted for the Franchisee Business of the Year tops off a great 2011 for Sue and Dave. The Editor of Startups said: “Our finalists this year are as diverse, exciting and creative as ever…Painful as it was, some fantastic companies didn’t quite make it this far from the hundreds of entries we received this year. For those that have made it to the 2011 final, competition for the honours in each category will be incredibly fierce and we anticipate one of the toughest judging days we’ve had since the awards launched in 2004”

Jasper’s Founder and Director Nathan Siekierski said: “We’re really pleased that Sue and Dave are being recognised this way. They are a credit to Jasper’s : their energy, optimism and dedication to their business translates into sales and success. It just goes to show that when you add the right people – who have the right attitude – to Jasper’s robust processes and systems, you have a winning combination.”

To find out more information on the Jasper’s Corporate Catering franchise, click here.