Elvis, our Portsmouth franchisee, has been on top form by not only reaching, but exceeding his monthly sales targets over his first quarter trading. He started his Really Awesome Coffee mobile cafe franchise in February this year and began trading in his home town of Portsmouth after completing his 4-week comprehensive training and launch programme. After serving in the Royal Navy for 27 years he decided to take on a new and exciting challenge:
“I was searching for business opportunities after deciding I wanted to be self employed, Really Awesome Coffee provided the correct level of autonomy as well as excellent support.”
Since his launch, Elvis has managed to surpass his 6 month sales forecast in just 3 months making it an outstanding achievement. He worked very close with head office support taking on and implementing changes suggested to him from his regular franchise reviews. By being proactive and putting in time and effort he has been able to financially reap the rewards which has propelled his business giving him the confidence to continue exceeding his targets:
“I am happy and pleased with my achievement, the time frame was part of my plan from the onset. I broke down my round into hour slots and tried to improve each at a time rather than just adding stops. Learning quickly and working at speed helped. I also listened to all of the advice from my Franchise Development Manager who is always on hand to offer valuable information. The credit/debit card reader has been a massive plus, on a busy day I have taken in excess of £80 via card payments, many of these sales simply would not have happened if the business ran on a cash only basis.
His advice to other franchisees:
“Know your own limits and set your goals in line with your ability, don't be lazy and work quickly when required. Research your chosen areas thoroughly, imagine your round and the times you want to be in each area, this has helped me a lot.”
He describes his next steps:
I will continue to develop my round, after that I may look at adding some more stops. It's all about work life balance for me.
