Franchise, the backbone support system in a crisis.

Area Managers Sam and Pax running a team talk before the opening of BurgerFuel Westgate.

Owning a business when your nation is going through a four week lockdown period can be daunting for any business owner, big or small. So today we'd like to shed some light on franchising during a global pandemic and how being a part of a franchise business during COVID-19 is extremely supportive and reassuring.  

It's important at any time during your franchise journey to feel supported but especially during unprecedented times like these. Here's some insight into our top priorities on how we, as a Group and as friends, are helping all our franchisees get through.  

Staying up to date  
There is a lot of information (and we mean A LOT!) being passed around right now. It's important to know what sources of info to trust and knowing what to action and what not to.  

Marketing support Maddie (left) with store owner of Shake Out Palmy, Ryan (right).

Managing a four week (or more) lockdown period can be extremely stressful for a new or experienced business owner. By removing the pressures of keeping up to the date with the current news by deciphering what's relevant and important vs what's not, and delivering this info to the network, can help lift some weight off our franchisee's shoulders. 

In addition to providing info to the greater team, we aim to keep the customer informed every step of the way. From updated Google listings through to store signage and social media channel messages.  We wanted one source of truth so made sure there is a dedicated crisis webpage set up for all our brands - to give the most timely updates to customers and staff alike.  

Team Support  
Internal, external and within the network. Keeping everyone on the same page is incredibly important - from customers to franchisees, through to your part-timer who only works every second Saturday.  

Winner Winner Courtenay Place store owner Tola (left) with Winner Winner founder Anthony (right).

When the first signs of COVID-19 hit our nation, we strengthened lines of communication between our Op's Managers and franchisees. Daily emails were sent to all franchisees with a current update on the COVID-19 situation, what it could mean for our business, along with 24/7 support from all field managers. These increased lines of communication assured our franchisees that we, as a franchisor, were being proactive about the situation, working extremely hard in the background to complete integral re-opening projects and were ready and available to assist in any way possible. 

Managing supply chain advantage 
Supply chain advantage is a great benefit of being a franchise, you gain the benefits of a secure and reliable supply chain (as well as great product pricing through group influence), even through a crisis.

Having a centrally controlled supply chain, we were able to directly manage our supply chain with our partners on a daily basis. We are also able to plan our re-opening strategy with our suppliers well in advance to ensure our franchisees can hit the ground running.  

Government guidance and clarification 
Along with many other employers, there was a level of uncertainty and clarity around the Government's wage subsidy allowance.  

Our HQ team actively researched and contacted relevant industry specialists including legal teams to get the best guidance on the wage subsidy. We broke down this wage subsidy information and gave franchisees examples of how to use and best manage it to the benefit of their business.  

Innovation in times of crisis  
We set our HQ up in ‘crisis mode’ which meant there was a clear focus on three things; Crisis Control Centre (CCC), Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Effective Crisis Fundamentals (ECF). We may have made the last acronym up, but it sounds good. Basically, the third part meant we had a team working on quick project delivery like tech development and testing things like ‘curbside’ pickup.  

We’ve learnt a lot in the last couple of weeks, we are incredibly thankful for our franchisees and HQ teams. Everyone has been very understanding and trusting in our brand and network. This is not something we want to experience again but are grateful that we are prepared if we would need to.  

If you want to learn more about what it's like to franchise with us during 'normal' times, take a look into our website and check it out! We've got some great videos that give you an overview of each brand and a stacked list of FAQs - as we know you will probably have many!