Blazes launches new franchise

While the country is in the cold grip of recession, the founders of Blazes fireplaces have cooked up a heartwarming franchise opportunity perfectly suited to white-collar professionals.

The brainchild of Michael Eyre and Stuart Law, Blazes Home-based Central Heating franchise (HBCH) taps into the lucrative energy market. And at £20,000 the opportunity is at least £60,000 lower than Blazes’ retail franchise, Blazes Fireplace Heating Centres.

Says company founder Michael Eyre: “While our retail franchisees are holding their own, these are undoubtedly difficult times for the sector. It’s actually a stroke of good business luck that we’d been piloting a lower-cost franchise before the recession really kicked in and are now ready to launch it.”

An important twist in the fortune of the company is that, while fires and fireplaces come under the heading of discretionary purchases, central heating falls into the ‘essential need’ or ‘distress’ purchase category, one of the main reasons that, over the past four years, central heating sales have taken an increasingly larger share of the overall business.

Because of this Eyre, along with Blazes’ marketing director, Stuart Law, decided to make central heating sales a franchise opportunity in its own right. Says Law: “Not everyone has the money to invest in a showroom. With HBCH we’ve hammered down the overheads to practically zero - something that’s very attractive to potential franchisees in the middle of a recession. The new franchise is affordable, flexible and doesn’t require high street premises. What it does require is solid marketing, commitment and savvy salesmanship. Along with Blazes expertise and comprehensive support, these attributes will ensure the success of all our new franchise recruits.

“Franchisees don’t require much more than a small office area at home to work from, a computer and a car. With this basic set-up they can comfortably make a full-time income working part-time hours - as our pilot schemes have shown.”

Blazes’ early sales figures and current projections show that in year one, working just nine hours a week, franchisees can make around £15,000 a year. In year two, working 12 hours a week, that figure rises to £30,000. In year three, at 14 hours a week, franchisees can expect to earn £37,500, while in year four they should earn £52,000 a year working just 18 hours a week.

Says Law: “Launching HBCH in January 2009 has given us the silver lining in the cloud of recession, and we expect to see huge interest in our new franchise offering at the Manchester show at the end of the month.”