Maarten has been in the hospitality industry for his whole career. After studying Hotel Management in Maastricht in his native Holland, he moved to the UK and has enjoyed a varied career working in London and Brussels for Conrad Hotels, in Chester at Michael Caines’ Abode hotels as well as luxury chalet and hotel operators in the Alps and Saint Tropez.

However, Brighton is where Maarten’s heart is and he was keen to open his own business in the place where he lives. Franchising seemed to be the perfect compromise for Maarten between striking out on his own and the support of an established business.

Maarten said: “Having spent my whole career in hospitality, I knew I wanted to set up a business in this industry, but with support from a franchisor. While researching online, Jasper’s really appealed to me – I like the ethos of the business and the approach to customer service. I have spent more than 20 years working at excelling in customer service and I am very passionate about it. I believe this sets Jasper’s apart as a business – it’s something they believe in and is evident in everything from their customer guarantee, to their online ordering system and the training they provide their staff.

“I signed up to Jasper’s before I even tasted their products! This goes to show how impressed I was by the franchisors, their Business Management System and their whole approach to doing business. Luckily when I did get round to seeing and tasting Jasper’s food, I wasn’t disappointed! Jasper’s standards are exceptionally high, the food is always freshly prepared and beautifully presented. They have also recruited a Head of Food Development who is driving the food offer forwards with new house-made products and new menus.”

Prior to launching Jasper’s, Maarten has been engaged in an intensive training programme which has included production, sales and systems training.

Maarten said: “Every step of the way, my confidence in Jasper’s has been confirmed. They have been franchising since 2007 and have honed their systems and processes over the years. It’s reassuring to have a proven business model behind me and a network of peers I will be meeting with in the franchise network throughout the year. Now I am looking forward to running my business, in my town, offering great solutions to office catering for local businesses and making a real success of it. ”

Jasper’s Corporate Catering Brighton opened on 14th May, providing hot and cold delivered catering for business meetings, training courses, lunches and other corporate events. Jasper’s also designs, builds and manages on-site catering facilities and supplies state of the art food and drink vending solutions.

As an extremely cost-effective alternative to high-end websites, it’seeze websites have continued to impress as small and medium size businesses throughout the UK work with it’seeze to launch their new websites. Demand has never been higher: in February 2012 alone it’seeze saw a 127% increase on sales from the same month in the previous year.

The economic climate has only bolstered it’seeze position as one of the UK’s leading affordable website providers, as businesses look for cost-effective alternatives to spending thousands of pounds on website development. It’seeze’s business model, with its low upfront costs and monthly payments, is geared up to assist local businesses to ensure that their websites work for them.

This business model also means that Spoton.net franchisees receive three types of income: an instant income from website sales, a monthly residual income, and an income from providing additional services! And with franchisees who’ve already achieved over and above 150 website sales, the residual income alone makes a very attractive proposition.

“It is really encouraging to see so many SMEs coming to it’seeze to get their business online” comments Karl Lewins, Business Development Manager at Spoton.net. “Over the last year I have seen a massive shift from business owners as they start to realise the importance of having an online presence and the huge commercial value that it affords”.

“It really is a great opportunity for our Spoton.net franchisees who are able to capitalise on this growing trend and month-on-month we are seeing improved sales as a result of this.” Karl adds “It’s exciting times especially when you realise there isn’t a small business in the UK that it’seeze can’t help.”

Colin gave a humorous but very thoughtful presentation on both his own background and the need for training in order to succeed in whatever vocation a person chooses. He spent around three hours at the centre reviewing our courseware, holding TV and press interviews and it was a great pleasure and honour for him to join us.

The Pitman Training Stratford franchise partners – Thaddeus Inekuku and John Akinyode – were also joined for the opening ceremony by Claire Lister, Mike Cressey, Jamila Juma-Ware and Andrew Walters – Managing Director, Franchise Manager, Marketing Manager and local Franchise Development Manager respectively.

This agreement comes soon after reaching agreement with RSM Tenon plc, the UK’s largest provider of recovery/turnaround services in the SME sector; The Lighthouse Group plc, the winner of the UK’s Large Independent Financial Advisors Award 2011; and UK finalists in the Software satisfaction awards – IT specialists Diamond Discovery – in an extremely exciting growth phase for the company and their franchisees.

Negotiations are continuing with other high level suppliers of complimentary skill sets, with further exciting announcements expected in the coming weeks.

Andy MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer of Assist With Solutions, said: “This additional agreement will have a huge positive impact on future earning capabilities for our franchisees and ensure that their current and future clients will receive the utmost care and professionalism in all areas and aspects of commercial finance and funding requirements during their business development cycle and takes the total number of professionals that AWS franchisees will now be able to access to in excess of 1,000, moving us one step closer to becoming the UK’s premier facility for all areas of essential business support.”

If you are passionate about helping others achieve, while developing a lucrative and residual income for yourself, read more on the Assist With Solutions franchise opportunity here.

Resale Bryony is looking to extend her family and has decided to stop running her successful Creation Station franchise. “I absolutely love the values of the Creation Station and have enjoyed building my own successful franchise. The time is right for me now to move on other things.” The value of the franchise re-sale is £10,000.

The multi-award winning Creation Station, is the first and most successful children’s Arts and Crafts activity franchise in the UK.

Recently awarded the ‘Best Interactive Business’ 2011 in the Mumpreneur awards, The Creation Station continues its mission to inspire children’s imaginations. With over 50 franchises operating in the UK, the franchise gives people the opportunity to achieve a rewarding work/life balance that compliments a great family life.

The number 1 choice for Mums
At the heart of our success is our team of franchise owners. The majority of the franchise owners are Mums who love the flexibility of the work/life balance and running their own family friendly and financially rewarding fun franchise.

Just 12 months ago Sophie was a Sales Manager for BT, a career she had been pursuing for 12 years. Now she is running high energy music and movement classes for preschool children each week, teaching them to dance and sing.

So what prompted such a drastic career change? As Sophie explains: “I had just had two children and I really wanted to improve my work-life balance so that I would able to see my children more often.”

She heard about MAD Academy franchises and decided to try running her own business teaching music and movement classes for babies and toddlers. “I was very impressed by the developmental benefits of MAD Academy and how much work had gone in behind the scenes to make sure that all the activities of the classes have specific demonstrable benefits for the babies and children.”

Now Sophie is bringing these benefits to the babies and toddlers of North Oxford and Bicester. In just a year her business has gone from nothing, to running 10 classes a week and working with local nurseries and children’s centres. “I love being my own boss! I worked for a large corporate previously where I could make very few decisions. Now I can make decisions myself and quickly too – it’s a great, refreshing freedom.”

It can’t have been easy, launching a brand new business in the current economic climate, but Sophie seems to be bucking the national trend and going from strength to strength. “It’s been a hard year, really busy,” says Sophie, “but the effort you put in does pay off. The highlight has been how many customers come back for a second or a third term. I’ve already seen tiny 12 week old babies grow up and move into my toddler classes, which is wonderful.”

Sophie’s customers are returning because they love the fun and energy she brings to her classes. Indeed, they love her classes so much they have now nominated her as the Most Outstanding Activity Leader in the South for the Under 5s in the What’s on 4 Little Ones Awards. “I was absolutely thrilled to be nominated! It’s really wonderful to know that the parents appreciate the classes so much.” Sophie is now hoping she gains enough votes in the coming weeks to win her award. “It would be an incredible end to a fantastic first year!”

Commenting on the nomination, Managing Director Dan McManus said: “We are delighted to be nominated for this prestigious award. The confirmation of being one of the top 50 businesses in Lanarkshire is a credit to all the staff who cover the length and breadth of Scotland from our Lanarkshire based business. Estate Agency is a competitive market and it is a great credit to our worldwide brand, the PSYBT and our unique approach to the estate agency market that we have been able to become a market leader in our area.”

Lesley Sharkey, Operations Director of Century21 UK, comments: “This is fantastic recognition of a hard working, very well run and highly successful business and Dan and the team should be extremely proud. As our youngest office owner this is Dans first business venture and he has shown complete determination to start a business and reach this stage so quickly in his business career. This nominations follows on the back of a successful pitch to secure corporate instructions from a leading High St Bank and I have no doubt the office will go from strength to strength driven by a very determined business owner.”

“This is a great recognition for an Irish product, conceived, developed and launched in Ireland and now about to go to our first international markets,” said Niall McConnell, Cartridge Green’s Managing Director.

“We have a great team of people across our 13 stores at present and we hope to roll out an additional 16 over the next two years, as well as having our first presence in Britain. Cartridge Green was always going to be more than an ink refill business. We set out to change the model for printing and this award is testament to the progress we are making.

“That old model for home printing has been to sell the printer at a low cost and the ink at a very big premium. We wanted to change the model and make home printing fun for the first time. We wanted people to be able to print what they want, when they want, without having to worry about the cost of the ink. Our marketing message is inviting people to ‘Be Print Happy’.”

The company began trials of Club Cartridge Green across its 13 stores in Ireland last year and has now expanded the offering to include an online facility to service households not located near a Cartridge Green store. New subscribers get a brand new multifunction printer and unlimited ink for a monthly payment of only €12.99 for the first year. In the second and subsequent years, that monthly payment drops to only €6.99. Subscribers can also choose to pay annually and receive one month’s free printing.

“We have doubled the number of subscriptions we had initially planned for and expect to have over 10,000 subscribers within the next six months. With our new online service, orders are coming in from every corner of the country.”

Edward Brewer, Auditel’s Franchise Development Director, comments: “Allen’s decision to join us coincided with yet another award for the company. We were nominated in March for Best Franchisee Marketing Support by the FMA. Auditel has also just been shortlisted for the prestigious HSBC Franchisee Support Award with only four other finalists. “We are very proud to have been recognised for the third consecutive year with this kind of award.”

As Cathryn Hayes, Head of Franchising, HSBC, said: “What these businesses have in common is the implementation of innovative practices that are driving industry standards. The HSBC Franchisee Support Award recognises outstanding franchisors for the strategic direction and support they offer their network of franchisees. Their stories are an inspiration to businesses of all sizes across the UK!”

Edward continues: “For any management professional looking to run their own business for the first time, franchising has become an increasingly attractive option. The latest NatWest/bfa survey reveals that nine out of 10 franchisees remain profitable. The Auditel franchise is a fantastic opportunity and many of our franchisees enjoy a lifestyle they had only dreamed about. Why not book your place at one of our Free Discovery Seminars? Talk to our Franchise Support Team and ask as many questions as you like. We shall enjoy meeting you!”

Auditel’s Progress in the Marketplace
Established in 1994, Auditel is the UK and Ireland’s largest and fastest growing cost, purchase and supplier management franchise with a network of over two-hundred highly-skilled specialists. Since 2005, the number of franchisees has grown by 175%. Over 90% of their franchisees renew their agreements after 5, 10 and 15 years. Auditel’s franchisees client base grew by 66% between January 2009 and December 2011. The network turnover has grown by 192% since 2007. The higher earners enjoy an income of over £200k.

The awards highlight the outstanding business acumen, passion and achievement of franchise businesses across the UK. They are only open to franchise businesses that are accredited members of the British Franchise Association, and put standards, ethics and best practice at the top of their agenda.

Jasper’s shortlisting recognises the way it supports franchisees, right from when a potential new franchisee first submits an enquiry, through to when they are an established member of the network. The support covers every aspect of a franchise owner’s needs – including emotional, psychological, peer to peer and business management.

Key elements are the high performance business coach who provides 1 on 1 coaching sessions; monthly growth meetings with financial reviews; and Jasper’s award winning Business Management System and Sales Buddy. This takes all customer orders, breaks them down into daily production requirements, chases up invoices and generally is there to support the franchisee in any way possible, from admin right through to marketing campaigns and sales.