| Made not Born Champions | The Frying Squad |
| Size | 12 employees/32 franchisees |
| Sector | Food Service/Franchise Opportunities |
| Location | 5 retail units across NI |
| Status | Currently working through the MAP and MLDP programmes |
Having spent 14 years working overseas in welding engineering, Michael Neill returned to Northern Ireland with ambitions to create a successful franchise business. He established the Frying Squad in 2003, a fish and chip outlet with a strong corporate ethos, and in 2006 after much research he successfully employed his first franchisee.
Today with 5 retail units and plans for rapid growth, Michael’s attention is now focused on developing a strong business model which is easily transferable to his franchise owners as well as growing a dedicated and driven management team to develop the corporate profile and run the day to day functions of the business.
With plans to open a further 14 stores across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain by the end of 2012, Michael knew that empowering his management team was crucial to the success of the business. “I had very clear objectives of how I wanted the business to grow, but to do this I needed a support system in place,” said Michael Neill. “I knew that the expansion of the business would take me further away from day to day management activities so I wanted to give the management team and senior customer service staff the skills and confidence to develop the business in my absence.”
THE STRATEGYMichael, a firm believer in people development, embarked on achieving the Investors in People (IIP) standard in 2007. As part of this programme, it was suggested that management and leadership development could play a key role in helping him to realise his ambitions for the business. “We were introduced to the Department for Employment and Learning’s Management Analysis and Planning (MAP) and Management & Leadership Development Programme (MLDP) as key tools for addressing our management situation.We were matched with a MAP advisor who had a background in hospitality. She understood the nuances and needs of the business very quickly which was a great advantage.Her audit looked at the ‘big picture’ of the business and how by empowering the management team to take a collective responsibility for the overallsuccess of the business we could be more productive, profitable and efficient.” The first step was to recommend developing the general skills of the senior team through the MLDP ‘Personnel Development’ programme. Three members of the team including a shop supervisor attended the course which provided basic leadership and team development tools.
Going One ‘Batter’
The advisor also focused on specific actions within the business such as financial performance, internal processes and customer service using business tools such as balanced scorecards and customer service meters. For each area identified she developed measures, targets and processes to help focus the team on the task. “Using charts and targets was a new way of working for us and it did take some time to get used to the paperwork, but the team has now really embraced this way of working. We learned that by communicating our end goals, the team was more inspired to help achieve these.Additionally by training key staff in a range of operational procedures such as ordering and banking- effectively giving them management roles– I have freed up a lot more of my time to develop the franchise wing of the business.”
Personnel Development programme through MLDP, has increased the gross profit by over 7% in the last six months - simply by implementing systems which regulated wastage and staff costs.
“Don’t get me wrong, it has been quite tough at times and we have had to invest time and resource. But there is no doubt that the investment was well placed. We are already seeing financial benefits and we have developed new methods of benchmarking and monitoring customer service levels and feedback.
According to Michael, the business is now more efficient and productive as a result of the programme. In one shop alone the supervisor, who had attended the Personnel Development programme through MLDP, has increased the gross profit by over 7% in the last six months - simply by implementing systems which regulated wastage and staff costs. “Don’t get me wrong, it has been quite tough at times and we have had to invest time and resource. But there is no doubt that the investment was well placed. We are already seeing financial benefits and we have developed new methods of benchmarking and monitoring customer service levels and feedback.
‘Frying’ High
Michael continued, “Our franchise offering is now stronger than ever as we are delivering a business model which is well proven and comes with workable targets and action plans. And on the ground our senior team is more motivated and driven which means that as the business grows, we can be safe in the knowledge that we can grow with it.”Financial support towards the programme was a key benefit. The Frying Squad was able to avail of the MAP analysis and MLDP training with 100 % funding. “My team and I were extremely impressed with the efficiency and understanding of DEL in putting us on the right course of action. All learnings were relevant and beneficial to the business. We will be regularly liaising with DEL in the future on further activity open to us, and would recommend whole-heartedly that other eligible businesses take advantage of the great business tools available. When running a small business you don’t get much time to look above the parapet, so engaging in this process was an ideal opportunity for us to gain some perspective – with the added benefits of financial assistance and expert advice. All in all a very worthwhile experience “