It was on a three month travelling honeymoon that Pizza Hut franchise partners Liz and Grant Preece were inspired to obtain a “better kind of life”, one where they “worked less, but earned more”. Their answer was to own a pizza franchise.
To Liz, a fast food franchise seemed to provide a “safe-ish environment, especially in a business (Pizza Hut) I know”.
In June 2006, Liz and Grant purchased their second Pizza Hut franchise in Brisbane after buying their first pizza franchise in 2005.
“I knew it would be hard work, but the first year proved to be much harder than I had anticipated. We know it will continue to be hard work for the next couple of years with six or seven day working weeks as we set up our network. After that, we hope to see the benefits of more time away from work because of the people we have developed and the systems we have set up,” said Liz, about the fast food franchise.
“The sometimes heavy workload is balanced out by the freedom that being a franchisee provides. It’s great, if something is not working on Tuesday, you change it on Tuesday,” she said, when asked to comment about the pizza franchise.
Grant agrees the Pizza Hut franchise provides freedom. “The best part about being a franchisee is being the owner. You set your own targets and that’s a real big plus.”
Liz and Grant love developing people in their pizza franchise, this is an area that they find very enjoyable and rewarding.
“They are our people, it’s our time and energy and we get the benefit,” she says, in regards to the fast food franchise.
Liz and Grant have played a strong role in the development of many of their young Pizza Hut franchise team, including two who are now on traineeships.
As a tip for new pizza franchisees, both Liz and Grant suggest that you “make sure you set up your accounting software from the very start, it’s easy to overlook in the first few weeks”.
Lastly, Liz recommends making time to have a break from any fast food franchise.
“Book in a holiday and pay for it really early; you may feel as though you will never make it, but by already having paid for it, you have to go.”
6-Sep-2006