YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE

Camborne Paynter attributes success to teamwork

Nicholas Camborne Paynter knows a lot about teamwork. As a multi site District Manager for Burger King for more than 14 years, he acknowledges that success is built up from the newest crew member to the most senior manager – it’s a team effort. Not unlike his local football gang who have taken teamwork all the way to the European Cup, Nicholas aims for consistent performance and long term success.

His North West franchise, which stretches from Liverpool across to Buxton, has already achieved an annualised turnover of £ after only 18 months in business. Although he had a huge amount of experience in the fast food industry, Nicholas chose the Jani-King franchise for a number of reasons: “It was good value compared to the costs of a fast food franchise, and I liked the guaranteed income in the first 18 months,” he explains. “Although the training was quite long, it was very informative and sets you up to get your franchise running efficiently from day one.”

He also liked the company’s attitude to constant improvement. “We provided feedback on the training, and Jani-King was very open to change and improvement. It’s just as efficient, but shorter now.”

Nicholas’ customers include many national accounts provided for him by Jani-King such as TenPin, Next, H&M as well as accounts he has signed for himself. His monthly turnover of £27K is also supplemented by considerable extra work which he generates and often does himself.

“I set out mainly to manage the business rather than do the actual job,” he says. “My skills are in managing and marketing the business, but if needs must I am more than happy to get my hands dirty! You have to be prepared to work hard if you want to succeed in this business, so I cover holiday periods and sometimes extra work.”

He is clearly ambitious and wants to get up to a £1million turnover sooner rather than later in order to achieve his goal of retiring by 45. “As long as Jani King keep giving me accounts, I can keep driving the business. I don’t have any ceiling in mind for growth.”

Nicholas admits his Burger King experience has stood him in good stead: “I have no staff issues, I know how to recruit and manage people at this scale of earnings. My financial management is good, and I work hard to keep good relationships with customers which is the lifeblood of this business. You’ve got to keep in touch and keep talking to people to find out what they want, and how you can help them.”

His main issue has been finding ways to manage cash flow; “Every day cash flow is a problem; people take longer to pay you than normal, which makes the whole cash flow line difficult. But there are always challenges in business.”

Nicholas’ teamwork also extends to his relationship with Jani-King. “When I have needed support, I got it,” he states. “Jani-King do sensible checks with franchisees to see that we are not damaging their brand, but other than that they leave you alone to get on with building your business.

He has also seen the trend towards national accounts start to change the business. They bring greater security but Nick also knows he has to put more effort into managing these demanding accounts. “They can want more for less, but they do bring an ability to drive growth,” he comments.

When he retires Nicholas intends to travel; “I want to go everywhere,” he says. “I’ve got a long list. I’m not going to go climbing Everest but I have an open mind. So long as I don’t have to worry about going to work every day, I’ll be happy!”