Budding entrepreneurs and savvy business owners can spot a great opportunity when they see one, and that’s exactly what the new and exciting Homefresh Experience Cooking franchise offers.

At first glance it’s a smart and sophisticated multi-revenue cooking school in a retail environment. On closer inspection Homefresh is a gateway to a whole host of catering opportunities in the wider community, backed by a retail expert who will present you with this turn key opportunity.

Founder and retail expert Stephen Curtis explains how Homefresh works.

“A Homefresh cooking school is effectively a shop front, a window to a much wider business activity. In addition to the store’s strong revenue streams from home cooked ready meals and kids, adults and NDIS cooking classes, Homefresh also delivers a range of highly profitable programs in schools, local councils and in many other community organisations.

“The primary Homefresh retail location is like a magnet for attracting business inside and out side of the store. A bustling cookery class viewed through large picture windows brings theatre to the shopping centre and attracts passing shoppers and anyone looking for a catering solution,” Stephen says.

Flagship store services the all of metro Adelaide

The Port Adelaide flagship store for example has drawn custom from many schools, libraries, community centres, councils all wanting the business to provide cooking classes and catering solutions in their venues. 

“Even the Adelaide university wanting international graduates to learn to cook engaged Homefresh. And some local families want a chef to help celebrate birthdays. It’s amazing where we cook these days!” Stephen adds.

Homefresh also has a second in-store revenue stream that has proven to tick all the boxes with a wide range of consumers: homefresh homestyle-cooked ready meals are cooked fresh daily from whole foods, without preservatives or fillers. 

“We shop, cook and our customers eat on the same day; this is uncommon in the ready meal market,” Stephen points out. “Our meals are ideal for seniors, perfect for working lunches, busy parents and reluctant home cooks.  We are confident that as we build our foot print Homefresh will become a major player in the ready meal market, there is just nothing like it. It’s a business with endless potential.

“From one store a business owner can reach a multitude of opportunities. We don’t need a huge number of stores – we need one shop window in each market at first,” Stephen says.

“Of course early adopters who buy a franchise gain huge benefits. The first person in an area will have unlimited market access to third party organisations.”

Stephen started the business in Adelaide, and is now expanding to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Getting the location right is crucial

Locations are key, yet surprisingly easy to get right, Stephen says.

“We cater for all of Adelaide from our Port Adelaide flagship store. Some of the custom is local and we get mall shoppers enjoying in-store cooking classes, but many of our customers are from across the city.”

For the Homefresh location itself, strong visibility in a high-footfall area is essential.

While cooking class clients will travel to experience what Homefresh delivers, foot traffic is important for the ready meals revenue stream, which caters for the local demographics.

A sub-regional shopping centre in a metro area is an ideal location. A centre that has one or more supermarket anchors, and a retail profile of between 80 and 200 shops is perfectly sized.

Stephen is the not-so-secret sauce that makes this business option so appealing, bringing his extensive retail experience to the location and lease negotiations.

“I negotiate with the landlords to ensure franchisees have the best start to their business” he says. 

A landlord’s contribution to fitout could be one way a franchisee can reduce their initial investment. Franchisees’ investment of $350,000 could be reduced by these contributions, making it even more attractive to pick Homefresh. 

“My role is to make it easy for the franchisee. This is a turnkey operation: all a new franchisee has to do is turn the key to their Homefresh store and walk in – everything is ready for them to start cooking!” he explains.