5 years of success

FRANCHISE OWNER DIARY: Derek & Cath Broomsgrove, Newport

"My wife Cath and I work together in our SITB franchise and we love the flexibility of working hours it allows us".

Over five years we've built a business that has provided us with a comfortable income and is now an asset. We've signed a new franchise agreement for an additional five years because we simply don't want to stop! In 2003, we took voluntary redundancy and began looking for something to do with the money. We researched a number of franchise opportunities and were immediately attracted to the SITB franchise by the link up with Mars - operating in association with such a well established name is a big selling point for our customers.

We then discovered that the SITB franchise is a straightforward cash business supported by a very professional and friendly head office team and with the finances fitting we decided to go for it. We invested in 100 battery-operated vending machines and SITB sent a canvassing representative to help us site an initial 50 machines over the first three weeks, as well as an installation team to help place them with customers.

Before the end of our first month we were stocking and servicing them and money was coming in. Part of our initial investment included a guarantee from SITB to find 70 sites, so over the next three months they placed a further 28 machines, while Cath and I also sited the remaining 22. This phased approach is a good idea because it allows you a settling in period - we weren't thrown in at the deep end.

SITB is introducing new, bigger vending machines which stock drinks and crisps and typically turnover between three and six times as much as the original machines, so we will be looking to site some with our bigger customers. We're both in our 50s now and are planning on another five years with SITB before looking forward to taking retirement.