Paradise Fresh is a fruit and vegetable delivery business comprising individuals who are passionate about delivering fresh, local produce to customer’s doors around the clock.
“We started out as farmers and moved into retailing fresh produce because we wanted to be able to supply our product direct to our local consumers,” says owner manager Brendon North.
The business was well received in the local community, which prompted North to consider expansion.
“It took off really well, which is when we realised we had this wonderful model that we could replicate and franchise.”
At the core of the business is fresh produce, says North. “It is about delivering freshness to peoples doors, really.
“We look after the produce so it keeps well for customers, which encourages them to come back again and again because they are amazed by the quality.”
To ensure customers receive produce top quality products Paradise Fresh deals with local suppliers, and the produce does not spend days on supermarket shelves.
Rather, customer orders are packed into insulated foam boxes and delivered to their doors in a refrigerated vehicle – a practice that keeps produce fresh.
When it comes to placing orders, North explains the business is incredibly flexible. “We have a lot of flexibility in our business. The customer can order what they want and have it delivered whenever they want – they can order up to 9am on a Monday morning and get it same day delivered.”
North likes to think of his franchisees as business partners, and he says Paradise Fresh offers them a wealth of support, both initial and ongoing.
Brendon North with wife Vicki and children Cameron and Natasha. Image: digitaliq.com.au
“We organise all of the set-up of the business for them so they basically walk into it all done. We tee up most of the supply chain, but if franchisees can bring in other local suppliers as well that is great.
“We provide franchisees with four weeks of training in the lead up to the opening of their business and we nurse them through the first few weeks – we work with them on the business and help them to process and pack orders,” he says.
Paradise Fresh also offers ongoing training in the areas of website management and IT advice, and franchisees have direct access to a business mentor who they can contact as often as they like.
The company engages in various forms of marketing, and franchisees are encouraged to work with the franchisor to market their business in the local community.
“We do a lot of marketing at different levels – particularly different types of marketing such as social media and internet marketing. Paradise Fresh is an internet based business so we work very hard on online marketing because that is where our customer base is and that’s where we believe the new retail business model is.
“We expect franchisees to do some marketing – we want them to take part in localised marketing and have some input into our social media marketing as well. It is a real partnership, we expect them to do a fair bit but we do a lot too,” he says.
Each franchisee receives their own online store, and customers are directed to the website of their nearest franchisee when they enter their postcode.
“Each specific territory website will have all of its own products and pricing. We try to use as many localised products for each territory as possible – it is about supporting local business and local products, which is really important to us because we are farmers and we still have our own farm,” North explains.
Paradise Fresh currently has four franchises operating in Narrabri, Armidale, Dubbo and on Sydney’s northern beaches, and North is looking to continue to expand the business.
“We are after 12 franchisees across Sydney, and we hope to have that covered by the end of next year, then we will move out into other metropolitan centres,” he says.