Australian Franchise News – 22-01-10
Australia’s largest specialty chicken retailer, Lenard’s, released its end of financial year operations reports today revealing gross profit of its franchised stores has risen to 52.44 per cent.
The average annual operating profit of a Lenard’s franchise rose 12.2 per cent while average sales have increased 2.19 per cent.
Over the last 21 years Lenard’s has injected more than $1 billion into the Australian poultry market and is widely regarded for leading the growth of value-added retailing.
Commenting from its Brisbane head office, Lenard’s CEO Bruce Myers said these results are an excellent achievement taking into account the current economic climate and its effects on retail and grocery trade.
“Our three-phase growth strategy is well on its way to realising the goals we have set, from both a company and franchise perspective,” Mr Myers said.
“We are beginning to see the results of focusing our energy into increasing operating profits as the first phase of this plan, with our next step to look to growing sales, followed by customer numbers.”
Over the last 18 months, Lenard’s has been implementing a multi-faceted growth strategy aimed at capitalising on the increasing demand for premium quality fresh food with the convenience of home preparation.
“Lenard’s is committed to long-term growth strategies in order to maximise the returns for our franchise owners and business partners,” Mr Myers said.
“We believe our franchise support program is second-to-none and we are committed to working with franchise owners to ensure their business grows year-on-year.”
A formalised alliance with grocery and liquor wholesaler Metcash Limited to roll out its store-in-store concept through its IGA network has proved successful, with more than 35 already up and running and a further 18 in the pipeline.
“This is a very exciting time at Lenard’s,” said Lenard’s founder and director, Lenard Poulter.
“We’ve injected even more funds and manpower into franchise recruitment growing our team from one person to four, to ensure we’re able to meet the demand for potential new franchise owners.
“We are the largest and strongest retail chicken company in Australia and that’s because we’ve created a great business model with great people, and a brand that is so successful no one can take us on. We intend to keep it that way,” he said.
According to recent survey results, more than nine in ten (93 per cent) Australians recognise the Lenard’s brand.