#Ursula McGivern and Patricia McAvoy enjoy getting to know their clients

The SNACK-IN-THE-BOX (SITB) franchise represents a new, challenging and more exiting venture for Patricia McAvoy. Earlier working as a shellfish sales agent, Patricia became impatient when the shellfish demand decreased. She said that she heard about the SITB franchise from her friend who had the snack box delivered at her workplace. Her friend knew that the idea worked and after knowing that the franchise owner was planning to sell his ready-made territory she thought of her.

Last year in February, Patricia went into joint venture with Ursula McGivern in order to take over the Belfast SITB. Patricia said that they really enjoyed running their franchise. She drives the van to meet customers whereas Ursula manages a permanent job working as a social worker with the SNACK-IN-THE-BOX paperwork.

Patricia also said that the support has been excellent so far. Firstly they had head office training in England to learn the ropes after which they went back to Northern Ireland. The previous franchise owner was available to solve all the queries that they had about the customers, route and the process of running their business. Every alternate month, a member from the head office visits them to provide pointers about ways in which they can improve their business.

Ursula and Patricia restructured their territory to site more boxes to the nearby homes. She further added that they reworked their driving route and also purchased a larger van so that they can deliver more in just a single trip. Thus, the number of hours she used to spend collecting and delivering the snack boxes reduced considerably.