A former restaurateur and coffee distributor with over 30 years experience in the hospitality industry is meeting the credit crunch head on by setting up his own recession busting business.

Yiltan Hurer is putting his business management skills to the test by starting his own plumbing business. He has taken on the London North West franchise for Drain Doctor Plumbing, offering emergency plumbing and drainage repairs.

Yiltan brings a wealth of business experience with him. He is a restaurateur by profession and spent 20 years running his own restaurant before joining Italian coffee roaster Levazza as the UK distributor for its roasted coffee beans.

“My cousin Mehmet Moustafa is taking on the North London Drain Doctor franchise. He asked me for advice and I came up with Mehmet to meet Drain Doctor directors Jan and Freddie Mitman.

“I got on really well with them from our first meeting and decided there and then that I would also take on a Drain Doctor franchise. It is important to get on well with the people you work with and I was very impressed by their successful approach to business.

“Drain Doctor has a proven system. It offers a recession-proof opportunity where I can be an independent operator running my own business but with all the back-up that comes with being part of a large national organisation. I aim to give businesses and householders in North London the ‘dazzling’ level of service in plumbing and drainage which Drain Doctor provides across the rest of the country.

“My customers get fixed-price, no obligation quotes, a complete guarantee on all our work, and a full 24 hour per day seven day per week service with no call out charges – so people pay the same price for work at any time of day or night. What’s more, my plumbers turn up at the agreed time!”

Yiltan’s cousin Mehmet is running the neighbouring Drain Doctor franchise so the pair intend to pool some resources. They will share office premises in Barnet although their technicians will cover different areas.

“As well as sharing office resources to reduce costs we are working out a system whereby we can offer enhanced emergency callout services covering each other’s areas. We will be working out a rota using all of our technicians so that we always have on call emergency cover but they can also get time off.”

Yiltan plans to begin trading with two technicians. He intends to expand that to three at the end of the first year and increase the business again and have four vans on the road by the end of year two.

“I want to grow the business in a sustained and controlled way but despite the credit crunch and the impending recession I don’t intend to hold back on investment,” said Yiltan.

Launched in the United Kingdom in 1993, Drain Doctor Plumbing quickly grew to become the country's largest emergency plumbing and drain repair service. It now provides a 24 hour a day, 365 days a year service across the country with each franchise area such as London North West run as an independent business.