Franchising in the UK is big business
… and with big business come big numbers.
Before I hit you with lots of stats though, I really want you to know that just because franchising is big business, it doesn’t necessarily mean that only big businesses within franchising are making these big numbers happen. Does that make sense?
To illustrate my point, check this:
There are 48,600 franchised units in the UK of which 2,300 are Costa Coffee; 2,200 are Subway; 1,250 are McDonald’s; 1,100 are Domino’s and 400 are Starbucks. There are around 935 franchise systems (businesses) in the UK. The franchises mentioned above are 5 in number. There are 930 other franchise systems operating across the UK. Nearly 4 in 10 franchise systems can be operated from a home office.
The 48,600 franchised units collectively employ over 710,000 people. That’s an increase of nearly 90,000 people since 2015. These 710,000 people are employed in hugely different businesses ranging from food to finance, from tuition to training, from engineering to estate agency and from pubs to publishing.
Women in Franchising
65% of these 710,000 people are women and across the UK just over 37% of new franchisees are women. Women in franchising is big business and I should know because 95% of my Raring2go! franchisees are women and 99% of them are mothers. 100% of them are brilliant, committed and amazing people that we are privileged to have in our network.
Raring2go! is one of the low cost home based franchises which is making a huge difference to the UK franchise economy and at the same time to the lives of its franchisees. Alongside the thousands of other low cost (sub £15k investment) franchises Raring2go! is part of the gigantic machine which ultimately contributes so heavily to our national GDP.
But how much does it contribute? Well, since 2015, there has been a £2.1bn increase in turnover from within the UK franchise sector. In 2018 that meant that franchising turned over £17.2bn. That’s what I meant when I said that franchising is big business.
Low Cost Franchise Systems
The high street names that dominate the UK franchise sector are high street names mainly because they do lots of TV advertising. They typically require a six figure investment together with a contract term ranging from 10 to 20 years. But just behind these giants there is that army of literally thousands of low cost, small but perfectly formed home based franchise systems that Raring2go! is proud to be a member of.
All of these low cost franchises are delivering on their franchisees expectations, only they’re doing so for a fraction of the initial investment and typically over a far shorter period of time. All of them too are making an even greater combined contribution to this country’s GDP than the big guys. That’s just a matter of simple mathematics.
The low cost homes based franchise systems are a hidden and powerful sector. Hidden, because they lurk behind your neighbour’s front door, in a small discreet office space above a shop with no discernible signage or in many cases upon the kitchen table of households up and down the country. They’re Powerful because united they represent a massive part of the UK’s franchise output. If you got them all together you’d need a premiership football stadium to seat them.
In franchising terms the low cost sector is responsible for the considerable output of a vast number of individual business owners. For many the journey into franchising is aided by their aversion to risk. They know that whilst there are no guarantees of success, the chances are statistically higher with a franchise than a ‘go it alone start up’. Add to that a lower investment level and a life and work balance which suits them down to the ground and you can see why the low cost franchise sector is quite so buoyant and enjoying rude health.
