From over a thousand franchises to choose from in the UK, deciding which one is right for you can be a challenging task. Nonetheless, thorough research before investing into a franchise is one of the most important steps in the process. We have identified ten important questions you can ask the franchisor in order to establish if it’s the right franchise for you.

1. How long have you been in franchising?

If the franchise has been running for a number of years, the concept is tried and tested. However, success can be measured in a number of ways; we recommend establishing the growth of the business for the previous five years at least.

Husse (pronounced “hoo-say”) franchise is the global leader in pet food home delivery. Being as the pet industry is very resilient in these times of a financial crisis, continuously making profit, Husse has been growing at 20% every year in the last five years, including expanding to more countries.

2. How much is the initial set up and what do I get in return for the franchise fee?

One of the common mistakes made when buying a business is not establishing the total outlay. The most important thing to establish here is what the franchise package includes. Does the package allow you to launch the business – If not, then establish the true cost of the business launch.

Husse offers a comprehensive franchise package in return for your investment, as we make our money by whole-selling pet food to our franchisees. The Husse franchise package includes:

• Exclusive franchise zone of 70,000 household
• £3,000 (RRP) Husse stock
• Two days training
• Husse uniform
• Mixed sample
• Catalogue
• Operational manual (printed & digital)
• Husse tent
• Initial set up including; micro site, customised design of Husse marketing materials, social medial set up and e-mail camping to our existing data.

For £9,995 plus VAT investment, it’s not a bad package to start your business!

3. How much working capital do I need?

When trying to establish what the total outlay is, always consider your personal expense. If a franchisor advises you that the initial set up fee is all you need, then run a mile.

If you take on a Husse franchise, we highly recommend you have £20,000 for the business so there are no cash flow problems during the development phase, plus your personal expenses covered for minimum of six month from the day you commence the business.

4. Is the franchise business seasonal?

This is a very common mistake investors do not consider. Seasonal business not only can have negative impact on the finance, but also job satisfaction. You can very quickly lose interest in your business by not being active all year long.

If you’re looking for yearly business with flexible working condition and also high job satisfaction, pet food industry has proven to be recession free. Husse retains 95% of its clients, our franchisees enjoys regular order from clients.

5. Is there a clear guidance about the concept on the operational manual?

All franchisors should have operational manual, but printing thousands of pages and giving it to you to read is not really practical in the long run. Furthermore best practice is always evolving and you cannot update your manual every month.

Husse does provide a printed manual, which focuses more on the corporate practise and the concept. But we go a step further; we provide our franchisees with digital manual. Having a digital manual in place allows us to share things instantly and stores all the important data in one place. Husse is always developing materials to support the franchise business process. 

6. Who provides the training and what does the training cover? Are there future training available?

The reason one probably invests in a franchise is due to the fact that it is a proven concept. However, only a comprehensive training program will get you in shape to practice the concept. You should try to establish if the training covers all elements of the business you’re looking to invest in and is it documented.

Husse have developed a training program for franchisees based on twenty-six years of success. Only a very few can boast such long term global success. Husse training program consist of: nutrition training, sales training, marketing training, CRM training, best practise, good habits, experience of others includes international franchisee, etc. More importantly, we provide continuous training at no extra cost.

7. What help will I receive in local advertising and promotion?

One of the signs of a good franchisor is how much support is available and marketing is perhaps the most important element of it. However, you should try to establish if the franchisor has the business structure or personal help to offer support.

Husse contributes £50 per month financially which should strictly be spent on marketing, deducted from the management fee. Husse provides on-going marketing support through in-house digital marketing, social medial campaigns, e-mail marketing, etc.

8. What exclusive rights do I get?

It is critical in the franchise industry that multiple franchisees are not operating in the same area, otherwise you end up competing with the same brand. Furthermore, consider other aspects such as online orders.

Husse offer an exclusive zone and the principles of our concept are based on building a trust with customers, which can only be achieved by franchisees delivering the Husse product. Whether it’s online orders, telephone orders, B2B orders, every single product is sold via franchisees.

9. What continuing support do you provide after the business has commenced?

Cost is the biggest killer for business and supporting your business can cost a lot of money. A good franchisor generally takes care of the support as much as possible and gets the franchisees to focus on selling. Focus on long term supports for your business processes when trying to establish an answer to this question.

The Husse business structure from Sweden to the UK is in place to offer ongoing support. We all make money by selling food, and franchisees are the key to this part of our selling process. At Husse we have an in-house vet, graphic designer, digital marketer and business development manager to support all franchisee business needs.

10. Can I talk to current franchisees?

If you even have to ask a franchisor to speak to a franchisee you should be concerned. If the franchisor hesitates to give you contact details of active franchisees, then you should walk away from the investment.

Part of Husse recruitment process is to get you to speak to our franchisees and find out from them how successful they are.