Long-time friends Jason Foran and Santosh Sen had one big incentive for buying a business – gaining precious family time. For them, the biggest prize is the freedom to be with their growing families here in Australia and their relatives in India.

And that is what their favourite fast food brand, Oporto, has delivered.

“As an Oporto franchisee, you can manipulate your time for family, to do school runs and take your kids to sports. We don’t have to ask a boss for permission. This is the lifestyle we were looking for,” explains Jason.

Santosh adds, “We wanted to unlock something for our future, and it was work-life balance we were looking for.”

When the pair met at university almost 20 years ago they forged a strong friendship and a love of Oporto chicken!

Jason says “When we came to Sydney from India we fell in love with Oporto’s Portuguese-inspired flavours; it became our go-to at uni for a treat. So when we were looking at business opportunities, we looked in our neighbourhood and that was when we started a conversation with Oporto.”

Moving 1000km to buy a business

The pair discovered they would have more opportunities if they relocated, and eventually fixed on the Sunshine Coast.

It was, as Jason explains, a major lifestyle change.

“We moved our families 1000km and everything changed. We had some scary moments; however we kept our eyes on what we wanted to achieve and found our way through,” he says.

Owning and operating an Oporto restaurant at Birtinya was a big shift from their previous work lives.

Santosh had spent much of his career in the steel and timber industries.

“I learned about business and resourcing, but it was a very slow-moving sector. To find new horizons, I needed to jump into something new!” he says.

Jason had a corporate career. “I worked in FMCG accounts and sales for most of my career, with Nokia and Unilever. I realised that in the corporate world the higher you rise, the more money they give you but take your time. And you don’t necessarily unlock more rewards for your effort because there are finite rewards.”

Oporto unlocks family time

The pair lacked hospitality experience and that helped them choose the Oporto model, part of Craveable Brands, for their business.

“We knew it would cost us per transaction but we had no experience in HR, corporate governance, supplier compliance or procurement,” says Jason. “When it comes to legal compliance we can get guidance on payroll, superannuation, HR. Kudos to people doing this themselves but we didn’t want to; we want to pay someone to unlock more time for us,” he adds.

“We decided going with a franchise gives us the upside; the franchisor brings in the expertise. And Oporto is invaluable in providing an infrastructure to operate and sell a consistent quality product.”

Jason Foran

It’s all about balancing risk with support, says Santosh.

“Craveable gave us comfort. Yes, there are some restrictions in a franchise but you have to understand that restriction comes with responsibility and if you are joining a ‘big familia’ they have something to look after that’s much bigger than just us,” he says.

The pair loved the help they received in relocating and opening up a business in a new state.

When they opened the Birtinya store, the state manager Deborah Miniata and business consultant Megan were there for two weeks to ensure the business ran smoothly.

Opening a second store

That premium support was also invaluable when the pair opened up their second store in early June, in nearby new suburb Baringa.

“It’s like having a new child!” laughs Jason. “We expected it to be the same but it’s like a second child and one sibling always needs more work. It was important to have support when we transitioned from one to two stores and we felt the benefit.”

The two franchisees have taken a distinct approach to sharing business leadership: they can each run and operate the stores but choose to manage separate tasks unless one of them needs help. This allows them to step up when one of the partners is overseas.

“We have families in India so we travel occasionally and it gives you peace of mind to have someone to back us up, as well as our amazing team of managers.

Splitting the rewards

“We set the business up to make decisions separately or together, and we back each other. The team understands command comes from the business, not the individual,” Jason explains.

The pair is not only splitting the leadership job but dividing the profits.

Santosh says “Of course we factored this in with our financial plan for the Birtinya store so we knew it was viable. It was always at the back of our minds to build something together and although money is important, it was a secondary consideration.

“We’re fine splitting the financial rewards we get with Oporto because family time is the bigger reward – spending time with our kids is the biggest incentive,” he says.