Quest founder: good franchising is a discipline

Sarah Stowe

Quest founder Paul Constantinou reveals what it means to be a good franchisor and deliver for franchisees.

Constantinou established Quest Apartment Hotels in 1988. This year the brand achieved the first 5-star rating under the FRANdata system.

So how will this accolade help the hotel chain?

“It allows our brand now to stand above others,”  says Constantinou. “To the potential franchisee, it gives them surety,” he points out.

“If people are looking to buy a franchise, the first thing they’re looking at, ‘Is my money safe?’. They are coming in to leverage your experience, your knowledge, your skill to be successful and if we’re not giving them that, then we can’t be a successful franchisor.”

Quest founder: good franchising is about discipline

“When people are buying into a franchise business, they are not buying in with a skill set. Our job is to guide them  through the disciplines of owning business. And it’s not just through the disciplines of operation, it’s the disciplines of statutory requirement.

“If we look at businesses today and why so many fail, the majority fail because they haven’t paid the GST, they haven’t paid the super, there are all these fundamental things that they don’t do. They don’t pay people right and this happens in the franchising industry. These are core fundamentals of a very disciplined system.

“If we are waiting on a legal body or government body to tell us what to do, then we’ve really lost it, because the cost of providing that is huge.”

Constantinou says it’s crucial to establish the appropriate systems to ensure compliance, rather than waiting for things to fail.

“We have to be disciplined  to have these systems in place to support future franchisees.”

Listen to this podcast and find out:

  • what are the keys to business longevity
  • how Quest minimises risk
  • why profit is more important than cost
  • how to manage compliance changes
  • what the franchise sector needs to do to re-establish lost confidence.

Hear from other franchise leaders here to gain great tips on franchising, find out how to spot a winning franchise, and learn about first class leadership.