A nation of animal lovers, the UK is a fertile environment for businesses selling pet products.
I spoke to Richard Dancy, Sales and Marketing Director at Oscar Pet Foods, about the loyalty of the franchise’s customer base, how they profile applicants, and how desire counts for more than business experience.
I’d say in our field, there’s not much that we haven’t discovered about the best way to run an Oscar business
Adam Bannister: What distinguishes your home-based business?
Richard Dancy: I would say that the level of support is very high. You get expertise – a lot of help in running your business – and a very good product. We have been franchising since 1993, so for about 13 to 14 years. We’re certainly not here today, gone tomorrow.
I’d say in our field, there’s not much that we haven’t discovered about the best way to run an Oscar business.
AB: What does your 11-day training course consist of?
RD: Six days of in-house, classroom-style interactive training and five days of customer building in the franchisee's area.
AB: The initial inventory includes an Oscar marquee. What's that used for?
RD: One of the ways we market ourselves is by attending various local events. The customer gets an Oscar marquee to put up anywhere where there might be pet owners: local village fetes, dog shows, craft fairs, schools – we are even going to a caravan show.
AB: What marketing does the franchisor undertake to publicise the brand?
RD: We spend a lot of our marketing budget on PR as we find that to be efficient; we had over 300 articles written about us over the course of last year alone. Our service, product and general local pet stories lend themselves very well to local papers.
We attend national events such as Crufts and sponsor Europe's biggest outdoor show the CLA Game Fair. We are also registered with many directories and known to local pet charities and businesses. Franchisees enjoy free corporate material and expert support. All franchisees have access to their own web page. We have a web builder system for them to do this on, so no experience of building websites is required.
AB: How much can a franchisee expect to make working a normal 35-hour week?
RD: If you are only putting in 35 hours a week then you are not doing enough! I would personally recommend a minimum of 40 hours a week.
There are people making £800 a week, but typical weekly earnings, I would say, range from £300 to £800 a week – and the franchisee gets to keep it all. There are no royalties! There is simply a support fee – a flat £115 per month that every franchisee pays.
