However, a lot has changed in recent years. Today, most franchisors are more experienced and value the importance of good franchisee selection. Get it wrong, and they have unwittingly introduced a problem – albeit one which may not become apparent until much later. On the other hand, by selecting the right franchisees, the franchisor lays the ground-work for a high-quality, well-motivated franchise network.

It is one of the ironies of life that people often only learn by their mistakes. It is also suggested that choosing the right franchisee is of necessity and developed with experience. With this in mind Kevin Bugeja, decided to make a difference in the franchise industry and utilise his extensive experience in franchising to build a professional franchisee recruitment firm known as Franchise Selection.

How Franchise Selection was born

Kevin Bugeja has been involved in franchising for many years and began as a consultant recruiting franchisees and later progressed to owning his own Nandos franchise store.

In 2006, Kevin founded Franchise Selection as a franchisee recruitment firm that specialises in recruiting franchisees. His company now works with more than 20 small to large franchise organisations throughout Australia and overseas.

“When we started Franchise Selection, we made a conscious decision to only offer the services of franchisee recruitment to franchisors as well as to only hire staff that has some related background or experience in this industry,” he said.

“Some of our staff, including myself, have been franchisees, master franchisees and franchisors. This has proven to be a valuable part of the mix as it provides real empathy and experience from both sides of the fence.”

Why do franchisors outsource their recruitment?

Franchisors that outsource their recruitment are usually time poor, inexperienced or seeking out expertise that will help them to grow that may be missing in their organisation.

“In the first place the franchisors are in the business of selling their product or service and, secondly, in the business of expanding their network through promoting their franchise to prospective franchisees. Even if they are successful at the first hurdle, when they move on to the second hurdle they are in a completely different market and many donÕt have the skills required to do both well,” Kevin said.

Who do we work with?

“Our client list reads like the whoÕs who in franchising with names like The Coffee Club, Battery World, Snooze, Price Attack, ezydvd as well fast-growing brands like GrillÕd, Crust & Matchbox. All these doubled in size by at least 10 plus stores in the last 12 months with many fast becoming tomorrowÕs household brands,” he said.

WhatÕs the future like based on the current economic climate?

“We are confident that the down-sizing of many large companies will force many middle/senior executives to re-evaluate their future with many looking at forms of self-employment including franchising. We are sure that things are set to change in our industry as things tighten up but there has probably never been a better time to consider buying a franchise,” he added.

FRANCHISE INFORMATION

Company name: Franchise Selection

Contact: Kevin Bugeja

Phone: 1300 FRANCHISE (1300 372 624) or on 0412 511 630

Email: kevin@franchiseselection.com.au

Website: www.franchiseselection.com.au