Jim’s Group to expand by rebranding existing trades

Jim’s Group founder Jim Penman is planning to expand his business by rebranding established medium-sized companies, and has already appointed a former franchisee to manage regional sales in order to target new trades.

The new divisions will come under the Jim’s Group brand and will need to follow rules on certain customer service obligations, but will operate as an established business. New franchisees will also be able to access infrastructure and legal advice.

Former Jim’s Mowing franchisee Craig Parke will take on the regional franchise sales role. It is understood he will partner with the company’s business development manager, Neil Baker, to expand into new trades including pest control and locksmithing.

Jim’s Group founder Jim Penman says some of the new ventures have become quite profitable, and the strategy is being pursued because it’s easy to find and rebrand existing trades than build them from scratch.

“We tried to do things like electrical work as part of our standard franchising model, but it didn’t work. If you want to train someone to be a cleaner, it’s easy, but something that requires a four-year qualification is a bit harder and you can’t do that.”

“What we’ve found is that if we rebrand existing businesses with an existing structure, the service is better and you’re making their marketing five times more successful.”

While Penman says the new strategy won’t likely become the standard model of the business, it is becoming increasingly popular and “we’re finding these particular franchises are becoming quite profitable”.

Chief operating officer Richard Reid says the move will be mutually beneficial, as existing businesses want to gain the infrastructure of a franchise, while Jim’s will be able to save time otherwise used for training and infrastructure-building.

“We’ve done it successfully with Jim’s Plumbing. A company called Metro Plumbing approached us with a view to joining Jim’s Group. They don’t need to build infrastructure, they just want to use the name to rebrand.”

“They have been successful, and they’ve actually had a situation prior to that where employees leave after a period of time. They want a middle role to step up, and become the franchisee within the system and have the benefit of that to attract those employees.”

Regarding Jim’s recent legal problems, Penman says the case is “meaningless… our lawyers have told us it’s a meaningless case.”