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Source: ONE News -
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The franchise industry is reporting a rise in inquiries, as people facing job uncertainty look for new incomes or for a place to invest their redundancy cheque.
CEO of Hire a Hubby Andrew Chisholm says they are getting dozens of calls.
"For the first time in 15 years we've got great franchise inquiry. Last year, same time of the year in August we had five inquiries, this August already we've had about 25 inquiries."
Simon Lord of Franchise New Zealand magazine says it's something that happens every time there is a recession.
"People get worried about their jobs, they think job security is a thing of the past and basically they start looking around for other opportunities."
Lord says the interest is predominantly in lower level franchise investments.
"Things like mobile espresso coffee, a lot of the mobile home services, where you can get in for an investment level of maybe $15,000 to $30,000 or so."
Roger Atkinson lost his job in the building supplies industry in Whangarei two months ago.
He is now buying a Hire a Hubby franchise in Kerikeri with his wife Connie.
"We decided together we weren't going to get another Job, that this was the time for use to get a business to support ourselves," says Connie Atkinson.
Banks also say they are seeing an increase in the number of people who want to invest their redundancy payouts.
"Often people will go through a number of different scenarios, then think maybe i do want to buy into a franchise and I got this capital that could be used for that," says National bank's Andy Somerville.
"From our point of view franchisees do have some factors supporting them. Things like training that's built into the franchise, recognised brand, the fact that franchises have really strong systems."
