Posted:13-January-2021
Father and son run multi-van Snack in the Box business
Franchisee: Andrew and Alan Sharpe
Location: Ayrshire and South Glasgow
When established: 2016
Franchise: Snack in the Box
What made you first look at SITB and choose their Franchise?
I had looked at several businesses and franchises. SITB met all of the criteria that I set myself.
I was impressed with my initial contact and that has continued through acquisition and operation
What were your key personal objectives when buying the franchise?
My 4 incentives were:
- I wanted a business that I could operate without staff
- That utilised market leading products and equipment
- Was a ready-made business providing income from day 1
- Flexibility in working hours
Tell us what the circumstances were for your reasons to expand?
The main, if not only, reason that we looked at expansion and taking on another area was that Alan, my son, had been working part time with me.
We had discussed the possibility of him working fulltime but we would have needed to expand our business through new sites, however, when the opportunity to purchase our neighbouring area presented itself that enabled him to join full time.
What now are your mid-term and long-term goals for the business?
Short and mid-term is to consolidate both areas and ensure that we are both gaining experience of maintaining equipment and delivering the best customer service possible.
Long term we would like to grow our customer base and perhaps employ someone on a part time basis who would also be able to cover holidays etc.
What is it like now being in partnership with a family member?
I have been fortunate to work with family members for most of my career, and have worked with my father, brother, wife and stepmother and now my son!
In my experience, it only works if you have a strong personal relationship and can communicate well with each other.
What are the challenges to running a ‘multi-van’ operation?
I had in the past operated multi van distribution and sales businesses, so have been able to draw on that experience.
We are currently running both areas as separate operations, so there are no different challenges to running a single vehicle but there are some advantages. For example, last week a customer phoned Alan to say machine was not accepting any money and he was quite a distance away but I was close, so I was able to attend and rectify issue.
Interested and want to know more about Snack in the Box ?
The Snack in the Box profile outlines all aspects of their franchise opportunity and allows you to contact them for further information or to ask a question.
