When Peter Archer decided to change his lifestyle and join the ranks of franchisees, working at night was definitely off the agenda. A successful printer for 23 years Archer had been living on the night shift so the opportunity to take on the Noosa Heads Cafe2U franchise was a breath of fresh air.
“To not be working at night after all of those years is wonderful. I get to see the day, meet different people and find out what they have been up to, IÕm never in the same place for long — the change has been very worthwhile,” Archer said.
Archer has maintained a relationship with the publications he used to work with, delivering coffee to some of them, and is using the change in lifestyle to pursue his interest in triathlon competition.
“I placed in the NAB Enticer (which involves a 200m swim, 5km cycle and 2km run) at Caloundra in February, which was fantastic. And it was in the Over-35 age group, which was an effort in itself. IÕm normally in an older age group (40-49 years division) so it was an achievement IÕm quite proud of,” he beamed.
Archer said his biggest work challenge so far was establishing a business in a competitive arena.
“There are other vans offering a similar service in the area as you would expect, so I have needed to familiarise myself with the full potential of my territory and seek out possible opportunities. But it is already going really well, I have established new relationships with some really good businesses and clients.”
The founder of Caf2U, Andy Simpkin, believes mobile businesses hold a significant ace up their sleeves in today’s economic climate: mobility. “The foot traffic in shopping centres and retail districts has obviously quietened since the downturn took full effect. Affordable luxuries are still appealing to consumers but they arenÕt venturing into retail territory to indulge in them as much, which hurts the shop front retailer.
“In our case coffee is an affordable luxury but you have the advantage of being able to go the customer. You are going to the business, not the other way around. In addition, compared to fixed locations mobile operations such as ours are a low investment model which offers a high return on investment,” said Simpkin.