7 / 10
wholesale sushi, we have kitchens
in Queensland, Victoria and Sydney
for the wholesale side.”
Starting a Wasabi Warriors
franchise works a bit
differently in the initial
phase. Rather than
paying an upfront
fee, franchisees
are
funded
into
the
bus ines s
through the ‘manage to own
programme’ initiative, where the
franchisee pays back the initial
franchise fee with a portion of the
profits they make. This model was
so successful that the number of
stores rocketed from 22 to 50 very
quickly.
“The only problem with that, of
course, is that there is only so much
that we can fund, and so we’re asking
more from the franchises to help do
that. It’s a programme that we will
keep running and keep encouraging
people to do and I do hope that the
banks get behind it a bit more, so
that’s our biggest growth.”
When it comes to qualities in
a potential franchise owner,
Mills certainly knows what
to look for. “They’ve got
to have passion for the
brand, or they have
to have passion
for owning their
b u s i n e s s ,
suppor tive
f a m i l y
a n d
friends. And then, where we can,
we assist in the ‘manage to own
programme’. People with energy
and passion succeed, because
you can have people who have the
money, but just no passion and so
a business is always going to do
better if you have that passion that
you put into it.”
She goes on to say that a recent
study by Griffith’s University
identified family and friends as a big
factor for success in a franchisee.
“When business gets tough or
you’re still in those first stages and
you’re still trying to get through, if