From Australia to the World - Nanotek: Advanced Car Cleaning Technology shares their story

Nanotek: Advanced Car Cleaning Technology mobile car washing franchise began in 2004 as Ecowash and was eventually rebranded to Nanotek in 2009.

At this time Nanotek was using an advanced form of liquid polymer nanotechnology, which enabled cars to be cleaned without using any water. The liquid polymer binds to the dirt, encapsulates it, which then creates a layer of lubrication between the paint and the dirt so it can be removed without scratching the car.

Nanotek: Advanced Car Cleaning Technology’s Jim Cornish speaks with Franchise Business AU about the car washing business’ humble beginnings to global success.

FBAU: What makes Nanotek so special?

Jim: I think the thing about Nanotek is that we all love cars and we don’t have a single person in our business who doesn’t and we don’t have a single person in our business who is previously a detailer.

The thing about Nanotek is that it’s a franchise system in its truest form, you get a turn key business, as many systems as possible, we centralise and enable the franchisee to focus on the day-to-day efficiency of their business and basically making it as profitable as possible and we really believe in franchising as a model.

I think we’re particularly suited to it because we do have an exclusive technology that no one else gets unless you’re a franchisee and we do have a global brand with centralised systems and I think really there is a lot of variations around business models at the moment.

I think pure franchising, if you’re looking for your first business, that’s the only way to go.

FBAU: How did you discover this unique way of washing cars without involving water?

Jim: The technology has been available in Europe for quite some time but it’s very expensive to make and the process does require training, which is why it’s very well suited to a franchise model. We take about 2 weeks to train each franchisee and then we follow up with them regularly and obviously it’s very different. It’s a paradigm shift in the way you wash cars so it’s something that anyone can learn very easily but it is a specific technology.

FBAU: Can you tell us about your successful franchisees?

Jim: Obviously Australia is our base but we’ve expanded overseas. We’re now at about 15 countries around the world in a range of climates from Saudi Arabia, where we obviously get extreme heat and very dry climate, and right through to Russia where you get minus 30 degrees. We’ve over the years been able to really develop the system further starting with about 3 products and we’ve now got about 20.

In terms of success of our franchisees in Australia, there’s no real set recipe for a successful franchisee. We have younger franchisees who are very successful in rural areas, we have older franchisees who are very successful in metro areas – so it really comes down to the individual. We give them an exclusive area and all of our areas have a lot of potential and then we give them the tools they need to build a successful business.

FBAU: What made Nanotek decide to expand overseas?

Jim: I think that because the concept is so unique and we’re the only ones that have stuck with it. We’ve been to true to our model, we’ve been true to our technology and we’ve always had a lot of interest from overseas from the minute we first started. For us it’s just been a case of identifying the people who are best suited to our model and once we find the right person we’ll then go and figure out how to get into their country, which is why we’ve ended up in some different countries.

Traditionally, I think the Australian franchise system look towards New Zealand and America, whereas we’ve ended up in Saudi Arabia, Romania, Greece and Russia because we’ve found the right people and when you’ve got the right people you have a strong relationship so that means you do have to work through issues which invariably rise when you’re going into a new culture. We’ve been able to work through that and maintain the relationship.

FBAU: Can you tell us what Nanotek’s big plans are for the future?

Jim: We’ve always had an IT focus but we’re going more heavily into IT this year. WE’ve been focussing on our web presence but more importantly the infrastructure we used behind the scenes to support our franchisees so we’ve developed more local area marketing tools, we’re developing our own customise point-of-sale system.

Something that we can roll out not only in Australia but around the world, which will increase our visibility of the business and give us a better idea of what KPI’s we need to focus on to improve franchisee performance and improve overall financial performance of the company.

For more information and franchise opportunities with Nanotek car cleaning franchises visit their website or ask a question.