BAKERS DELIGHT
“One of the most popular aspects of our onboarding process is the hands-on bakery orientation,” says Carly Mackay, Bakers Delight’s group franchise development manager.
“This is two days of hands-on training in a live bakery and is designed to give incoming franchisees a real taste of what their working life will be like once they are running a franchise of their own. It’s definitely hard work but it’s great fun and a real insight into how a bakery business operates, they really seem to value the opportunity to dip their toe in the water before committing.
“I think they also love the fact that we approach the recruitment process with full transparency,” she adds.
“Purchasing a franchise business involves a lot of trust so we approach the entire process like a partnership and make information on just about every aspect of the business freely available to them. It is a mandatory part of the process for new starters to randomly contact and interview at least three existing franchisees in the network to get their perspective on life as a Bakers Delight bakery owner.
“This sort of full disclosure is really valued by all of our newcomers to the business.”
Years franchising
Almost 40 years
No of franchise units
Over 600
Length of initial training
16 week competency-based and online training
Technical training includes:
Baking and sales training in a live environment.
Business training includes:
Managing operations, finances, wages, cost control, people management and workplace relations. Implementation of local and community marketing and ongoing sales and production planning.
Help with recruitment
Our operations and HR teams are available to support franchisees with the tools and resources to recruit their own bakery teams.
HR support for workplace rules
Our human resources team drives the best practice and policies. Information and recommendations are made available to franchisees in the areas of industrial relations, employee relations and other relevant legislation.
What support at opening?
Our hands-on operational team works with our franchisee in the lead-up to either opening their bakery or taking over a new bakery. Our operations team prepares a pre-opening plan and post-opening plan in consultation with our marketing team to ensure the business and franchisee are set up for success.
Opening marketing strategy
Strategic marketing support is offered in areas of advertising, media, design, product, pricing, public relations, sponsorship, digital, merchandising market research. Our franchisees also have the flexibility to drive their own local marketing activities with the support of our dedicated local marketing team and operations staff. The local marketing team are very focused on supporting franchisees to connect with their local community.
Is there franchisee benchmarking?
Yes there is benchmarking transparency across financial performance and operation standards within our system. Franchisees have the ability to review financial and sales performance of every bakery in the network. New franchisees are given contact details of other franchisees in the network and encouraged to speak with them before finalising their agreements.
What HO support available?
Property, projects, finance, operational, training, supply chain, IT/POS service desk, marketing, product development, franchise development and human resources.
Supplier deals
Our supply chain team negotiates supply agreements and works through distribution issues so as to maximise the collective buying power of the network. All suppliers are external to the business to ensure the best possible ingredient costs can be negotiated.
IT software
The information service team maintains a culture of continuous improvement and innovation to deliver the best information service solutions for our franchisees.
Lead generation/call centre
This is handled through our franchise development team which supports and nurtures franchisees through the recruitment process. This includes support when purchasing a suitable business and assisting those who wish to sell their business.
How is ongoing training delivered?
We offer on going training workshops in areas such as financial management, production scheduling and staff development. We also offer an e-learning platform called "Breaducate" to assist franchisees in the training of their staff.
Is there formal franchisee mentoring?
Our regional and area managers have a wealth of knowledge and experience to provide high quality operational support to our franchisees. Franchisees can also be mentored by other, more experienced franchisees through out the network.
Income guarantee
No income guarantees
Total investment cost
The cost of an existing bakery can vary from $50,000 to over $1 million depending on a number of factors such as turnover, operating profit, state of the bakery and equipment as well as the length on both the tenancy lease and the franchise agreement. The cost of the Bakers Delight franchise agreement is $5000 for every year (e.g. 5-year agreement = $25,000).