The Independent

Trevor O’Connell,
Half-Door Sweet Co Ltd
Maylor Street, Cork

“One good thing about franchising is that there is a lot of unemployment out there, and people have been given their redundancies, so it could be a way for a person to buy into a living for themselves.

“But I have concerns about several things, such as control of suppliers or pricing. If we have a supplier who lets us down, he’s out the door. We also call the shots about the brand and the identity of the product. With franchises, you’re not going to get that level of autonomy.

“It’s not a bad idea. If you’re in a profession that’s going down the tubes, and you want to buy into a tried and tested business model, but you’d want to be careful about what you get into.

“Retailing is tough, with 12-hour days, six or seven days a week. With a franchise, you mightn’t have as clear an idea of the financial benefit to yourself, as you have when you’re independent.

“Also, you have to be creative. Being part of a franchise might slow that impulse down. I also don’t like the homogeneity of franchising, but there are pros and cons to everything.”