Franchising's next generation; BFA members embrace youth as the industry's future

The BFA (British Franchise Association) has revealed the results of its most recent members’ QOTM (Question of the Month) polls.

The regular polls ask its nearly 3,000 franchisor, franchisee, advisor and supplier members for information about them, their businesses and their thoughts on the franchising industry, that contributes £19.1 billion to the UK economy.

Franchise facts

According to 2024 British Franchise Survey, sponsored by NIC Local, franchising in the UK consists of over 1,000 franchise brands, 50,420 franchisees and 770,000 employees and has had a failure rate of less than 6% for the past 25 years.  

Ageing franchisees

The BFA used their QOTM poll to ask members two questions: ‘how old were you and how did you first discover what franchising was?’ and ‘Approximately what proportion of your current network or workforce is under 25yrs old and what steps are you taking to introduce more young people into your business?’

Survey results

The results showed that the average age a BFA member first discovered franchising was 33yrs old and the majority found out about it through work. 47.5% said they plan to do more to bring younger people into their brand in the next 12 months.

Challenges

Whilst some members said their franchise brands were not suitable for young people, for instance needing a specialist background and others mentioned obtaining finance was sometimes an issue, encouragingly some young franchisees and employees are proving to be a great success.

Appealing sector

Sarah Dunwood, chief ops officer and director of education at Conexus Tuition has two new young franchisees.  She said: “This is the first year we’ve had franchisees join us who are under the age of 30, (27 and 28).  Increasingly we are getting more enquiries from younger teachers who want to continue working in education, but not within the education system as it stands, so we do expect that we will have more franchisees joining who are under the age of 30."

Graduate success and increased enquiries

Jessica Bonnard, CEO of language for Fun Ltd said: “Seven years ago we recruited a graduate while she was in her last year at university; now she is in our top three franchisees. We want to replicate this success by offering more support and better payment terms or reduced rate franchises.”

Rustico Enterprises director and co-founder Luca Venditto said his “last three franchise enquiries have come from people under 30” and Sally Barter, owner of a Bright and Beautiful franchise said: “I own a cleaning company and have applicants of all ages. I look to keep a balance of youth and maturity”. 

Jo Stone, CEO of Puddle Ducks said: “We’ve got lots of young teachers and poolside assistants. With the right training they are excellent and often want to work evenings and weekends when we have lots of classes.”

Preparing for the future

In recognition of the explosion of AI across all industries, some franchisors are focusing on training to keep them and their staff upskilled for the future.  Jon Kynaston, general manager at DALROD UK Ltd said: “We are focusing on AI apprenticeships to attract both young employees and upskill our business skillset for the future.”

CEO’s warning

Pip Wilkins, CEO of the BFA, who has recently committed to launching an education pack for members to use in their local schools and universities said: “As an industry that represents a wide range of businesses we know that there is a huge diversity in what franchisors are looking for in their franchisees and workforce and sometimes it simply won’t be appropriate for them to recruit younger people, however, as a sector we need to be mindful that the average age of a new franchisee is now up from 40 to 49yrs old and we’d like to see that figure come down.. With AI still in its infancy but now also being used by businesses across the board, it is crucial that young people, who I think we can all agree will be the generation that truly masters the tool, have a place in our franchise businesses, to keep driving them forwards, innovating and building as they go.”

Government strategy

She continued: “We also have a new Prime Minister who is reviewing employment opportunities for young people, encouraging them to do apprenticeships and learn skills rather than go to University, and we’d like to play our part in giving them an alternative route into business ownership. As such, we’d encourage our brand members to consider what they might do to attract more young people into their networks and head offices, to put franchising on young people’s radars, and ensure the profitability and security of one of the most successful sectors in the British business landscape.”

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