Cleaning up

Fresh start: HydroDog franchisors Janie and Martin Rose believe a new system can produce growth.

Martin and Janie Rose knew what they were getting into when they bought HydroDog, a dog-washing franchise, from its founders Christian and Anthony Amos in March 2006. Well, almost.

The Amos brothers started the business in 1994. Demand was never a problem but finding staff prepared to wash dogs wasn’t easy. They began franchising in 1996, which helped reduce their management problems; franchisees work for themselves.

The brothers built the company over 12 years to revenue of $9.21 million and 120 franchises by June 30, 2005. Having started with simple metal trailers, they invested $180,000 in building a branded trailer made in the shape of a blue and black dog.

It was a masterstroke that helped convince the Roses to buy the business. The company was at a critical stage. Growth and revenue were good but the Roses believed the business lacked sufficient documentation.

“There was a 30-page operations manual of which three pages were jokes,” Martin Rose says.

Franchisees charged different rates in different states and some had the new blue dog trailers while others did not.

Some franchisees loved the founders’ casual style but some master franchisees found the lack of structure made it difficult to sell franchises. “There were the raving fans, enamoured by [the founders’] joyous spirit,” Martin says. “They had people who loved them dearly and people who felt they needed more support. It was about 50-50.”

To the Roses, however, this was no way to run a brand or a franchise. Brands need consistency and franchises need documentation. Janie had 10 years experience in marketing and corporate relationship for movie and entertainment company Village Roadshow and Martin held a master franchise in Victoria for the ice cream franchise New Zealand Natural for 15 years.

So why buy HydroDog? For the opportunity to build the brand and capture its intellectual property on paper.

Even so, it was a bigger task than they expected. They started by asking the master franchisees what changes they would like. They were told to produce new marketing material, a new website, a new operations manual, improve training and distribute safety data sheets for all the products used in the vans. “They wanted us to create brand integrity and real substance,” Martin says. “We agreed to a six month time line. Then we worked like demons possessed, night, weekends and had most of it done within three months.”

Janie initially agreed to work at HydroDog under sufferance. She was worried about risking the marriage and already had the job of mothering the couple’s three young children. Martin says: “When Janie and I got married, she said, ‘We will never work together. It will ruin our marriage’.”

However, Janie decided Martin needed help. After stipulating that she would choose the marriage over the business if she had to, she rolled up her sleeves.

“Those early days were a huge struggle,” Janie says. “In the first few weeks we wondered what we had done! We were overwhelmed.” They delineated their roles: Janie worked from home on marketing; Martin from the office on operations, finance and strategy.

For the next six years, HyrdoDog ranked in the BRW Fast Franchises list, growing from revenue of $12.3 million in 2005-06 to $18.2 million in 2009-10.

They survived the global financial crisis and kept most of their franchisees. Through 2008, HyroDog’s franchise numbers held steady at 180; a few closed and a few were sold. “People stopped taking risks and they stopped buying franchises,” Rose says.

Even so, the company increased its overall revenue by $400,000. The Roses galvanised franchisees with a national roadshow to remind them that unemployment was low, that pet owners would rather relinquish a holiday or a new fridge than neglect their “furry family member” and that to keep their revenue, they had to improve services.

Although Martin believes the global economy is set for some years of trouble and the Gillard government’s tax on carbon pollution will harm Australia’s prosperity, he is planning for growth. He believes there are 2000 possible territories for franchises nationally.

The Roses are guarded about discussing future plans in their competitive industry.

“We are growing [organically] in Australia,” Martin says. “We will look at the quality of our branding and our offer. Over the next 12 months, we fully intend to lift the bar again in both branding and quality.”

Click here for more information about BRW Fast Club

BRW

Comments (0)