An oven cleaning business in North Somerset that has a network of franchises across the UK has received more than 1,000 enquiries during the pandemic as people look for new work opportunities.
OvenGleamers is run by husband-and-wife team Catherine and Graham Rogers, who set up the company a decade ago as 'one-man-in-a-van' and now have 17 franchisees around the UK.
The duo, who coordinate cleaning schedules for individuals and franchisees from their headquarters in Pill, said huge numbers of people had contacted them about setting up a franchise business.
"What we have seen is a lot of interest in our franchise opportunities. In fact right now we have just over 1,000 enquiries about an OvenGleamers franchise which is fantastic," said Catherine.
"It is understandable though because oven cleaning as a business is a fun, straight forward business to have when you do it right and we have those systems in place because Graham has been there and done it and still does."
Despite the challenges and uncertainty of 2020, OvenGleamers has continued to expand in the last 12 months, hiring two new members of staff for the head office and adding franchisees including three new ones in Torbay, St Albans and Kidderminster.
Catherine and Graham said although it had been an "incredibly challenging year" for everyone in business, OvenGleamers had been "prepared" for most of the restrictions - and had not seen any drop in customer numbers.
"We could have been hugely impacted by the varying restrictions but we’ve always ensured our teams work to the very highest standards in terms of hygiene, health and safety so we were already prepared for most of the precautions," said Catherine.
Graham added: "We can’t believe it has been a decade since we took the plunge and really went for it with the franchising concept.
"It was a steep learning curve because you are moving from the simpler model of direct customer service with your local round to trying to scale that personal passion, drive and quality but we’ve got a fantastic team out there in homes right across the country now."
