An Australian Franchisee Case Study
What is your career progression:
- September 1997 – Instore/pizza maker, Domino’s Maryborough
- 1999 – Completed TAFE Certificate III in Business (office admin) whilst working part time at Domino’s
- June 1999 – Pizza Maker, Domino’s Beenleigh
- August 1999 – Shift Manager, Domino’s Beenleigh
- 2000 – Started Bachelor of Business at QUT whilst working part time at Domino’s
- 2001 – Assistant Manager, Domino’s Beenleigh
- August to December, 2002 – Worked as Office Administrator whilst working at Domino’s Clayfield part time and going to university part time.
- December – Went back to Domino’s Beenleigh as Assistant Manager
- January 2003 – Store Manager, Domino’s Beenleigh
- June 2003 – Daughter was born so deferred university degree
- August 2003 – Training & Special Events Manager, Domino’s New Zealand. Helped to open and train up first six Domino’s stores.
- August 2005 – Franchisee Trainer, Domino’s Victorian Stores
- 2006 – Regional Manager, Domino’sVictorian Stores
- April 2007 – Purchased 1st store Domino’s Cranbourne, Victoria with partner James Dooley
- Winner 2007 – Hands on Hero Award
- February 2008 – Purchased 2nd store Domino’s Dandenong, Victoria with partner James Dooley
- November 2008 – Purchased 3rd store Domino’s Seaford, Victoria with partner James Dooley
- Winner 2008 – Highest Sales Growth Dandenong
- Winner 2008 – Fel Bevaqua Leadership Award
How old were you when started?
15 years old
How old are you now?
27 years old
Do you have any qualifications?
Certificate III in Business (office admin), Diploma in Accounting and half a Bachelor of Business majoring in Accounting.
Did you begin at Domino’s with the goal of becoming a franchisee?
No, I just started at Domino’s as an after school part time job
If not, when did you know you wanted to become a Domino’s store owner or how did you fall into it?
The idea of it first came to me when I was doing my manager training but didn’t really put much thought to it as I didn’t think it was something I could do financially. I became serious about this goal when I was a Regional Manager. I found out what I needed to do to make it happen, made a plan and followed it through.
What is the key to your success at your stores?
- Higher standards than what is expected – no compromise on service, image and product standards.
- Following the systems not ‘trying to find a short cut’, creating systems for our business that are missing or required
What is your business goal for the future?
Focus even more on training, particularly for our management so they are less reliant.
What do you love about Domino’s?
The culture and passion – it’s great to be able to go to work and have fun at the same time.
What do you love about being a franchisee?
The freedom and growth opportunities.
What marketing or advertising do you do?
Contribute weekly to a national ad fund that goes towards mainly TV, weekly Australia Post ums and regular direct mails to our customer database (to late deliveries and new customers etc). Word of mouth through better service, product and image has been the greatest impact we have made in turning the stores around that we have bought.
On average how many hours do you work per week?
Lately only 20 (including paperwork), I’m getting married next week so that’s been taking up a big chunk of my time.I plan to invest more time into training the team when I get back. When I first bought the store a lot more time was required of course. The time has to be put in order to make a difference.
If you were to give a potential franchisee three hot tips, what would they be?
1. Train, train, train (yourself and your team – never stop growing).
Spend as much time as possible growing yourself and your team and have fun in the process. Learn through on the job experience on how to do each person’s job from the delivery driver to the store manager (before you get into your new store). The best way to teach your team is for you to know everything about that job – not just the things a trainer can tell you about. I guess I would also add to this that ignorance is not bliss, ignorance is pain – don’t ignore the ‘wrong’ things the team members do. Correct them, teach them the right way and follow up that they continue to make the change.
Spend as much time as possible growing yourself and your team and have fun in the process. Learn through on the job experience on how to do each person’s job from the delivery driver to the store manager (before you get into your new store). The best way to teach your team is for you to know everything about that job – not just the things a trainer can tell you about. I guess I would also add to this that ignorance is not bliss, ignorance is pain – don’t ignore the ‘wrong’ things the team members do. Correct them, teach them the right way and follow up that they continue to make the change.
2. Follow the franchise systems.
Learn as much as you can about the systems you see in the stores you visit, and set yourself up to follow those systems – that’s why a franchise works so well – the proven systems are already there, the systems are what they are today through trial and error of someone else’s mistakes & successes.
Learn as much as you can about the systems you see in the stores you visit, and set yourself up to follow those systems – that’s why a franchise works so well – the proven systems are already there, the systems are what they are today through trial and error of someone else’s mistakes & successes.
3. Focus on operations.
Get someone else to do the paperwork for you – you concentrate on the operations (this is the one thing I would change about what I had done).
Get someone else to do the paperwork for you – you concentrate on the operations (this is the one thing I would change about what I had done).
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