Q&A with Jani King

The commercial cleaning sector is proving that businesses can prosper in a recession. Malcolm Porter interviews Jani-King's Rob Dancy on how the franchise is outperforming the economy

Malcolm Porter: How would you describe the Jani-King franchise opportunity?
Rob Dancy: Jani-King is a true white collar management franchise in the contract cleaning/relationship cleaning business with Guaranteed Turnover*. Jani-King serves some of the largest UK retail, leisure and hospitality brands at national and regional levels which enables our franchise owners to run high turnover businesses with strong profit margins. Because of this Jani-King attracts motivated business people with a work hard attitude and a vision for serious success.

MP: How long has Jani-King been trading?
RD: Jani-King has been established worldwide for over 40 years and has over 12,000 franchise owners, 120 regional offices in 18 countries. It is a genuine global business and has been operating in the UK for 18 years.

MP: Describe your target market and the potential for your business across the UK.
RD: Our target market is any commercial building that needs an efficient high standard regular clean - which is pretty much most buildings. In the commercial sector - especially in retail, leisure and hospitality - a company is going to be judged on its cleanliness so it is a very important part of their business. Jani-King's 40 year proven cleaning systems and customer extranet facilities offer blue chip brands a reliable, efficient and quality clean. The UK market in worth £6 billion and although Jani-King is already a successful business it has hardly scratched the surface in a sector that has unlimited potential.

MP: Has the current economic uncertainty affected your business?
RD: No, not at all. In fact it has benefited from it. In the last 12 months Jani-King's turnover has increased by 49 per cent. The current economic situation has seen a shift in blue chip retail, leisure and hospitality businesses moving from 'in house' cleaning to 'outsourcing' it to specific cleaning companies. This helps them to control costs and reduce overheads in HR and payroll.

As a national network of franchise owners, Jani-King is able to offer national brands a one supplier solution for all their national or regional outlets. Jani-King has capitalised on this trend and as a result has been able to supply franchise owners with work over and above their initial guaranteed turnover business plans.

MP: What differentiates Jani-King from its competition?
RD: A 40 year worldwide heritage, experience, trust, care and a quality controlled systemic approach to cleaning. Together with a national network of dedicated passionate franchise owners that are all running their own businesses with a vision to succeed, you will be pushed to find another business like it that can offer what Jani-King offers to its customers.

MP: What support do you provide?
RD: What support don't we offer? In-house and in-the-field training is extensive and no stone is left unturned. Franchise owners are supported throughout their life as a franchise owner and it is our goal to have a network of franchise owners all turning over in excess of £1 million in their businesses. We are well on the way to this so the future is bright for Jani-King and its franchise owners.

MP: What are the most important characteristics you look for in potential franchise owners?
RD: Running any business is hard work whether it is a 40 year proven franchise or not. It goes without saying that what you put in is what you get out. At Jani-King our network works as a team because we are all serving the same accounts but in our own areas, so consistency and reputation is key. Therefore we take a strict policy to who we do and do not take on but we look for hardworking, enthusiastic, professional motivated individuals that want to join us in our vision to build a network of franchise owners turning over £1 million plus.

MP: What are Jani-King's goals for the next 12 months?
RD: Jani-King's goals have always been to be a leader in its field and have a network of franchise owners all turning over £1 million plus in their businesses. We are achieving both these goals year on year but with such huge potential in the market at the moment it is our goal in the next 12 months to increase turnover by more than 49 per cent in the year ahead and as a consequence create more millionaire turnover franchise owners.