An experienced pre-school teacher, Holbrook has seen her business grow in recent years to take in four weekly venues around her home city of Norwich. Witnessing first hand the demand for her gym concept, Penny launched the brand’s franchise opportunities at The Franchise Show and The Work and Family Show, both at ExceL, in February.
“The feedback we received from both shows was fantastic,” Holbrook said. “We were especially encouraged by the responses we got from parents looking to discover new ways into work. Those that provided us with feedback highlighted the unique franchising opportunity that Mini Monkey Gym presents and we are very pleased to still be in the process of going through the leads that we have generated in the last few months.”
A young mum in her early 20s, with two young children of her own, Simpson already possessed an interest in launching her own business prior to discovering Mini Monkey Gym online.
“We were fortunate in a sense that Sarah happened upon information about our brand and our franchise opportunities, and that she immediately feel in love with the concept,” explained Holbrook. “While she didn’t have the previous experience of operating a gym-based concept such as ours, she more than makes up for this with her personality, her manner and her attitude, traits that make her perfectly suited to Mini Monkey Gym.”
Simpson officially commences with Mini Monkey Gym in August, however she is already in possession of her introductory pack and operations manuals. “Sarah’s formal training will take place in early August and will take in three days in Norwich,” Holbrook added. “Naturally, as our first franchisee, we will be monitoring Sarah’s development closely in order to perfect our own franchising model, and she can be safe in the knowledge that we will be offering her all of the necessary support in order for her to recreate the achievements we have made in Norwich.”
For the Mini Monkey Gym brand the only way appears to be up at present. “Our priority at present, of course, is to assist Sarah in getting her franchise up and running, and providing her with the tools to hit the ground running,” Holbrook concluded. “In the meantime, we are also pleased to have two other prospective franchise owners waiting to come on board, both of which will be based in London. As you can probably imagine this makes it a very busy, but very exciting, time for us as we continue to promote the brand and aim to build upon its success.”
Published: 21 July 2014
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