FROM BIG MAC TO VAC

Sometimes life throws a curved ball ; a surprise event which marks a radical change in direction. For Ken Davies, that happened in 2005 when a car accident left him with a badly broken leg. His twenty year career with fast food giant McDonalds came to an abrupt break whilst he underwent several operations to repair the damage, and was eventually off work for almost two years.

Ken had risen through the ranks at McDonalds from Crew all the way to Operations Manager in charge of 45 restaurants, managing a group of 6 area managers and a business turnover of more than £36 million. When he was finally able to go back to work, the company struggled to find an equivalent grade position to his previous role for Ken. He began looking for a new role, initially within another company.

“I was disillusioned quite quickly,” he explains. “I was being pushed towards other fast food chains, and it didn’t seem that agencies could see that the management model experience I had could easily be relevant to other businesses. I wanted something to get my teeth into so I started to look into franchising.”

Growth and Sustainability

Although Ken had worked so long for McDonalds he worked directly for the brand rather than as a franchisee, but he was not unfamiliar with the model of business. He was open-minded to any type of franchise operation, but he had some definite objectives. He was looking for a model that offered clear potential for growth and that would also be sustainable in most economic climates. He narrowed down the options to three very different types of business: a farm foods operation which would have been buying an on-going franchise; a carpet shop franchise, and contract cleaning – where he was most impressed by Jani-King.

Having discounted the food option as uneconomical for him, the choice was between carpets and contract cleaning.

“The Jani-King franchise seemed the option that would best fit my experience and expertise,” Ken explains. “I had been used to running an operation with multiple sites, and had enormous experience in dealing with people – from store staff to customers and suppliers. Even though the carpet franchise could potentially grow to multiple sites in the future, I was concerned that I would be bored after a while working on the same product all the time.”

“The potential for growth in the Jani-King model was clear. There are always going to be businesses to clean, even in hard economic times. The guaranteed turnover and profit payments were a major bonus, offering security. I had a lot of experience in a very structured environment at McDonalds, so know how to implement structures and systems within the Jani-King model.”

Expertise in Recruiting and Motivating Staff

Crucially, Ken also understands the issues around recruiting, motivating and retaining staff in this type of market – something which often surprises new franchisees in their first year of operation.

Ken is ambitious for his business and aims to get into the 22+ group as fast as possible, although he is mindful of issues shared with him by other franchisees that have grown rapidly. He believes it will be key to find the right people at supervisor level straight away. “You’ve got to have good people to support you. I don’t have a partner to fall back on so I will need good supervisors from day one,” states Ken. “My challenge will be to make sure that I attract the right quality of person at the right salary.”

Ken also genuinely enjoys training people – he acknowledges that one of the best things about McDonalds is its commitment to staff training and development. He wants to run a business where he can have managers that he can teach and then let them go out and do a good job for him while he grows his business. “I can see the same ethic in the Jani-King business and I am very empathetic to it,” says Ken.

Ken completed his training course by the end of January 2008 and is now ready to set sail to build his North East of England franchise towards its first £1million turnover as soon as he can.