Scooters Pizza is a people focussed company

Scooters makes pizza. It’s not an innovative idea that revolutionised the market but the franchise chain’s continued success in a tough market is down to a simple but often forgotten idea. Scooters Pizza is successful because it impresses with excellent service. This commitment to quality is a habit that has been instilled over years and is a passion that infuses all corners of the company but dedication to superior service is easier talked about than accomplished.

The trick is changing the company’s focus from what they produce to making their customers’ experience at their stores easier and more enjoyable.

Managing Executive of Scooters Pizza, Jeanne Geldenhuys believes that while good branding plays a role in business success, it is active and involved employees who drive and strengthen the message tied up in the Scooters Pizza brand. She knows that customer perception plays a big role in a purchasing decision and if customers are not happy with their experience in-store, then ultimate it is the chain that suffers.

She believes it is what sets Scooters Pizza apart. “We have benefitted from giving our staff the tools to create their own success and in return we have dynamic involved employees who view our success as their own.”

Scooters Pizza understands that people are the essence of a successful business as they are the link between the brand and the customer experience of the brand. It is through enthusiastic employees that customers experience and live the authenticity and passion of the brand.

The pizza giant’s continued success in a tough economy is down to a culture that focusses on its employees, and it’s a culture that brings customers through the doors again and again. Since its inception, the company’s founding members understood that recruiting and retaining the best talent available is the key to success. It has allowed them to be able to adapt and thrive where competitors have stumbled.

Managers are encouraged to interact with people they supervise, to share knowledge and to impart experience. It is a collaboration that works both ways. Employees understand the goal they are working towards and managers develop an understanding of the skills and potential of staff and how to align them with current and future objectives.

For the Scooters Pizza management mistakes made are a learning experience that strengthens the company in the long run. It’s a learning curve that allows all employees to learn the business without fear that mistakes will be punished. Geldenhuys goes on to explain that with this freedom comes responsibility.

“On the same hand our employees are trained to understand that they will be held responsible for their actions. Once they accept responsibility, then we, as management and customers, expect them to meet those goals. We believe in the importance of accountability. People have to be able to believe that you will deliver what you’ve promised, whatever that is.”  

Scooters Pizza employees know that believing in this ethos is easy, rewarding and normal business practice.

“Always view your team and business through a human coloured lens. Always ask yourself how do I keep them in the loop, listened to, appropriately equipped and responsibly led? Every business is unique with its own strengths, challenges and priorities but if you get the right people, the rest will follow,” Geldenhuys concludes.

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6 Stages of Birthing a Company

I’m a new dad (for the second time). In between the feedings, the changings, and the naps over the last few weeks, it dawned on me that becoming a parent is a lot like birthing a start-up. Let’s dissect for a moment:

Stage 1: Conception.

You will never have so much fun again until you see your “baby” actually born. This is when you have all kinds of energy and vision about what the end result will be--yet absolutely no clarity as to what you’ll endure together to get there. You should relish this period as a Zen-like bubble. Float around with your happy thoughts before the actual work sets in.

Stage 2: Development.

The harsh reality check. Now you’re all experiencing the pain of growing your idea from a little tiny seed (“Wouldn’t this be awesome?”) to actual, 1.0 reality (“Why did we do this again?”). You hope your approach is suitably creative, colorful, and positive to influence the outcome, similar to what’s required to raise a Baby Mozart. You’re willing to get your engineers mountains of Doritos and rivers of caffeine, when the instant cravings strike. In general, it’s sleepless nights, perhaps some queasiness as you contemplate investor questions, weight gain from stress eating, even mood swings that fluctuate from utterly downcast to wildly euphoric.

Stage 3: Testing.

The finish line is so close you can feel it. The technology is nearly ready for a public audience. Now you have to run through final testing--like packing your hospital go-to bag or driving the route two or three times--which helps you feel ready for the inevitable last-minute questions and bugs. But you are ready. Or you’ve reached the point where you know everyone is thinking (because you are too), “I can’t take any more! Get out. Getoutgetoutgetout!”

Stage 4: Birth.

It’s that time. Pushing your tech start-up live is exciting, scary, sweat-inducing, pain-filled, and joyful at once. You can’t believe it’s really happening! There are fits and starts. But once the train starts moving out of the station, there’s no going back. There are only fervent prayers for success.

Stage 5: Euphoria and sleeplessness.

Your black-and-white world has exploded into vibrant, unmistakable Technicolor. Customers are active on your website and you’re discovering so much you didn’t know about your own technology, based on their reactions and interactions. There are many “learning moments”--some of them humbling (actually, most of them).

Stage 6: Contemplation.

Some time has passed. As your product has grown and changed, guided by your collective insights and wisdom, you begin to forget the pain of its infancy. It’s all obscured by the rosy, gentle glow of memory. That’s good--because your team is already starting to think about the 2.0 version.

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To Hell and Back: the dramatic story of a company of pet

Tobi Skovron has lived what many see him as the entrepreneurial dream. Wine up with an idea, began with a loan of $20,000, and over 10 years built a multi-million dollar business that sold. But it was a slog: it survived a distributor who undermined him, not to mention a sudden drop of 40 percent in its capital of expansion (he financed his family life in credit cards and a check of the equity of the House after another).

Skovron comes from a family of entrepreneurs in Australia. He remembers his father, a "boy ragingly successful", taught him two things: "1) If you want something well done, do it yourself" and "2) they don't ask why or how, go there and make it happen."

It starts with an Idea

In 2003, he and his then girlfriend (now wife) Simone lived in a two bedroom apartment in Melbourne. She bought a dog and immediately faced the problem of having to walk the dog regularly, as insignificant-training seemed unreal. "It needs to be a better way of living with a dog but only an apartment could afford," Skovron thought. Simone said, "if they could only do a patch of grass on the balcony."

Bingo! Skovron invented the pet Loo. Two years of R & D presentations as well as patent and trademark and was time. He had taken nothing out of business and had small jobs to help keep things together. Simone, a social worker, covered their expenses. "We went,' Wow, that would be better to do something here or die wondering." "

It was in an Australian show called the new inventors. Similar to Shark Tank, a panel voted the best idea and, then, the public came to speak. A week later and pet bath was Meow of cat, so say it. In a 24-hour period, he sold 500 units. That 1.2 million a year business became an AUS$. Skovron had a real wage. But what he really wanted was to build a global brand.

"In Spain we have 7 million cats and dogs combined," he says. "In the United States, has 200 million. "I wanted to be in the biggest market and the best on the market".

Getting the attention of some big

Things continued to see. In 2008, in a European domestic animal show, met with the CEO of PetSafe, a major manufacturer of pet-related products. Skovron flew to the headquarters of the company in Tennessee. The Executive Director said "I believe you, but going to try it. They grow quite large and we are going to buy." Quite large, as in $10 million a year in sales.

He and his wife now moved with their two dogs to Los Angeles to expand the company. The day that he did, the financial crisis caused the Australian dollar and $300,000 in seed money that had been saved, down 42 per cent in value. "We are entering the world's largest consumer market and I have odd $ 160,000 to throw at it," he says. "It is not enough."

Then dropped the other shoe. He had a U.S. distributor that sent back about $300,000 a year in sales to the Australian company and was to work with retailers. Only, not the man. All sales were made directly from the company's web site. Skovron business plan had been to work with the country's largest pet stores.

To fight

The two parted ways, Skovron thus went on their own. He used credit cards, a line of home equity in his home in Australia that rose up to $500,000 by the end of one year and the occasional night of eating cereal for dinner, to finance the company. Sales grew, but the business was hard.

"I was 31 years old," he says. "This could not go. Would you consume, so it must find another route." They took the decisions on debt, something was raised to avoid, in private equity investment and all that may be required, or that acquired. The company's revenues had hit the mark of $10 million. He called PetSafe CEO.

They met and he sounded as if he was to receive an offer. But at the last moment, received a phone call: "for reasons I can not reveal today, we will not make an offer." It hit him hard, but he didn't give up. More time, a new line of "cool cats", and went back again.

Ship comes

It turned out that the last time, Skovron had been shot in the foot by insisting that all its staff, 12 at the time, would be brought to the company as part of the acquisition. But two of the employees were not a fit. By chance, who had left for their own reasons from and the cast, big one, spent in 60 days.

Skovron now works for PetSafe. "I put my family in a position where you don't have to worry as we used to worry, if it's food on the table, keep the lights on or a two day vacation," he says. In addition, arrives to continue growing was responsible for product lines.

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Franchisor strategy: a proposed model and empirical test of franchise versus company ownership.: An article from: Journal of Small Business Management

This digital document is an article from Journal of Small Business Management, published by International Council of Small Business on April 1, 1994. The length of the article is 6083 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: The agency and risk spreading theories of franchising provide perspectives which can be utilized to create a comprehensive model of franchisor strategy. Analysis of data gathered from a survey of franchisors yielded empirical support for hypotheses generated based on both models, while little support was obtained for hypotheses grounded on the resource scarcity theory. Larger companies were found to make more use of franchising rather than company ownership in achieving their expansion goals, while older fimrs used franchising less. Recent growth did not significantly affect franchisor decisions.

Citation Details
Title: Franchisor strategy: a proposed model and empirical test of franchise versus company ownership.
Author: James G. Combs
Publication: Journal of Small Business Management (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 1994
Publisher: International Council of Small Business
Volume: v32 Issue: n2 Page: p37(12)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Price: $5.95

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Franchisor Business Plan - Mobile Auto Detailing Franchising Company (Lance Winslow Small Business Series - Auto Detailing)

This is the original updated Business Plan for the Franchising Arm of The Detail Guys. This is not a hypothetical business plan, it was actually implemented and franchises were sold around the nation. Anyone thinking of franchising in the automotive sector, especially a mobile franchise operation should read this business plan. Anyone studying franchising, or is an executive of a franchising company should have a copy of this just made for Kindle updated business plan on how to franchise a mobile auto detailing company.

Price: $ 125

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COIT Cleaning and Restoration Company Acquires Sacramento Franchise, Announces New Services

“We appreciate the hard work of the Sacramento ownership group, which operated a successful COIT franchise for many years,” Bob Kearn, president and CEO of COIT, said.  “Now, we look forward to introducing new services to our residential and business customers in Sacramento, including COIT’s nationally-recognized disaster restoration services.”

COIT is a leading supplier of carpet, upholstery and drapery cleaning services with company-owned and franchise businesses located throughout the United States, in Canada, and in Thailand. The company’s locations also provide tile & grout cleaning, air duct cleaning, and 24-hour emergency restoration services. Peter Bakker, a member of the group that previously owned the Sacramento franchise, continues to own and operate one of the company’s other successful California franchises.

The company’s disaster restoration services feature recovery from fire and smoke, wind, water or mold damage, including cleanup after emergencies such as broken pipes, overflowing toilets and other unforeseen home and business mishaps. Staff members help guide customers through the claims process by working with insurance companies and providing technicians and craftspeople to handle the actual restoration work.

A team of COIT-Corporate staff members is working to integrate COIT Sacramento into the company’s corporate division and to train on-site staff in all new services. Customers can continue to contact COIT Sacramento at the same address (3499 Business Drive in Sacramento) and phone number (916-731-7090).

“Sacramento is an important market for COIT, as it is for any California-wide business,” Kearn said. “We look forward to continuing to provide world-class services to the city and to customers in the surrounding area.”

ABOUT COIT

With more than 60 years of industry experience in the U.S., Canada and Thailand, COIT is a leading supplier of carpet, upholstery and drapery cleaning services.  The company also provides tile & grout cleaning, air duct cleaning, and 24-hour emergency restoration services.  COIT's impeccable reputation offers customers the peace of mind that comes from knowing every job will be done right the first time.  For information about franchise opportunities, call Pat Saign at (800) 243-8797 X108.

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