Franchise Business spoke to founder Harry James to find out more…

What are the expansion plans for 2017?

The strategy includes targeting sites within the Central Coast and Western Sydney region. We plan to get our network up to the 10 store mark, surround ourselves with the right expertise across all elements of the business and gain as much feedback from our partners and then re evaluate if necessary before we continue the journey.

We’ve got our fourth store opening in June, will launch two more stores in Central Coast and Western Sydney and establish our third franchisee store by the end of the year. That will take our store count to seven in all.

Initiatives are in the works to drive our franchise to even greater heights for 2018, so we’ll be out there meeting and greeting prospective franchisees and looking at new locations – quite possibly Melbourne and Brisbane.

What is the initial investment?

Greenfield or newly established sites, depending on size and type of store, will range from $300,000 to $450,000 and that’s for an all-inclusive turn-key operation.

The support you will receive from Harrys head office will be extensive, interactive and effective and will be maintained throughout the franchise partnership, that’s the promise we make.

5 things that are new at Harry’s Schnitzel Joint

1. It’s taken us the better part of 18 months and a whole lot of investment but thankfully the Harry’s Schnitzel joint franchisee operations and training manual is ready for store-wide launch. Lots of time, heaps of sweat has gone into this and we’re sure that it will be in a constant state of refining and adding components, but it’s well worth it, especially for our new franchisees.

2. As we prepare for the market beyond Newcastle we have introduced and upgraded new sauces to our range with a few unique recipes which you will only get at Harrys.

3. We have spent a fair bit of time working on our store layouts, the strategy is to become more efficient and keep labour costs down, we are implementing this design at the Thornton site here in Newcastle.

4. We’re always looking to create a better more convenient customer experience, so we’ve invested heavily in upgrading our in-store technology, especially at point of sale and I promise you we will turn heads and lead by example. Considering we live in a world of experiences, we’ve made it our mission to introduce best of breed technology that allows Harry’s to  provide the best systems at the right cost for our franchisees.

5. With all the news on wage disputes, Harry’s has taken it upon ourselves to make sure we have that right for now and for the future. So for the past year we have been working with a company which provide rostering, payroll and HR services at an individual store level, which is also integrated into our POS system, which then allows for a reporting link back to Harry’s head office. It’s the best way to make sure we always have things right by our employees.

“Franchising is our preferred way to go from now on, it’s a win win for all and we love working with enthusiastic business owners who share the Harry’s vision and passion.”