When Hugh Allam from Surrey purchased his OSCAR franchise in 2005 he used his 16 years’ experience in franchising at management level to ensure his business was a success. Allam has now expanded his business into an additional area and his wife, Julie (pictured top with Hugh Allam), has joined him as a full-time business partner.

Mr Allam said: “OSCAR was never far from our thoughts having had regular contact with head office. While appreciating that franchising offers the benefits of a tried and tested system with good knowledge and the variety of franchise opportunities available we agreed that OSCAR provided the high quality products and services that we were looking for in a business – not without researching every aspect of the franchise before making a final decision.

“Following the system, we regularly canvassed and attended as many local shows and events as possible to increase brand and customer awareness. It worked and we started to build a strong customer base, meeting lots of people who care about their pets and people who recommend our complete pet care service to their families and friends. We keep it simple by reminding our customers of what they eat to remain healthy and applying the same logic to their pets – nothing complicated and it all makes good sense. Resulting in our OSCAR-fed pets looking a picture of health.

“The freedom of running our own business from home gives us the flexibility to manage both our personal and working lives. Holidays are covered by working closely with neighbouring franchise owners and added support from the team at OSCAR means time away is covered.

“One thing we can rely on is customer loyalty. We learned from previous experience in the milk delivery business that by making sure we keep regular face-to-face contact with our customers we maintain the connection. Therefore, we had no hesitation in deciding to expand our business when the opportunity to purchase an adjacent area became available. Similar to our existing area it is compact and came with a good reputation and conscientious pet owners who had already been enjoying the OSCAR personal service – a service that we will continue to provide.

“Having enjoyed our pets over the years, currently owning three Rhodesian Ridgebacks, we want our business to be a success for our future and through to retirement.”

Published: 6 January 2011

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