Foodie favourite Nosh has plans to franchise

Nosh stores stock fine products and serve "our nation of foodies".

New Zealanders' flirtation with food has become a full-on love affair in recent years. The popularity of reality television cooking programmes such as My Kitchen Rules and MasterChef have inspired many of us to get serious about the quality of the food we purchase; the effort we make in its preparation and the pleasure we take from sitting down together and eating the fruits of our labours.

At the same time we have seen increased interest in cooking classes where we learn to do interesting and exotic things with food products we have sometimes never heard of.

Our growing interest in new and interesting food experiences has fostered the emergence of new specialty food stores to satisfy our lust for high quality food products.

A pioneer of this trend, Nosh Food Markets, calls it "a little gourmet everyday" - and it's something New Zealanders are falling for it big time.

Tim Cook, chairman of the Veritas Group, which owns the Nosh businesses, has announced a programme to franchise existing Nosh stores to appropriately qualified people.

Two Nosh stores are already franchised - at Mt Maunganui and Constellation Drive on Auckland's North Shore.

"The Nosh brand is passionate about quality food. Nosh Food Markets are places of discovery and inspiration, creating great experiences for our customers," says Cook. "Since we took over Nosh 18-months ago, we've always had a vision to franchise more stores. We've developed a franchise and network strategy and we're looking for innovative, committed franchisees to join us on the next part of the Nosh journey."

Nosh has an exclusive distribution arrangement with leading UK grocer Waitrose which provides access to a wide range of existing international food products including exclusive lines from chefs such as Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith.

It's an exciting business and lifestyle opportunity for anyone looking to partner with a gourmet food business with a great brand. Nosh is also looking at opportunities in other parts of the country.

"Nosh is a well-established and respected brand in the specialist food market category", Cook says.

"As an early trendsetter in the provision of daily gourmet food experiences, Nosh has brought quality, choice and variety to discerning consumers of fine foods. Today's families have heightened tastes and aspirations of food experiences that they can prepare and share together. At Nosh we meet their need for helpful, personal service and knowledge about the products we sell."

Every Nosh franchise store has its own individual characteristics.

For a franchisee, here are the benefits:

• All supply arrangements, including pricing, trading terms, logistics and promotions, are negotiated for you.

• As part of the franchise arrangement you are supplied with a range of branded and private label product lines, to improve store sales and margins and generate customer loyalty.

• Marketing and advertising is carried out at a group level on behalf of the franchisees to grow sales and enhance customer awareness of the brand.

• Franchisees are sometimes given assistance with store refurbishment and redevelopment and the management of new development projects.

• Point of Sale (POS) and back-office systems and operational support are provided.

• Support services and tools to assist franchisees to run and manage their own businesses include: input into business plans; ongoing business support and systems; product sales benchmarking information; training support and operating manuals; the benefit of centralised marketing, media buying and advertising.

Cook says it's helpful for a franchisee to have prior experience in managing a business. "The people who are most successful in the Nosh business are genuinely interested in food, wine and entertaining, are happy to work hard and are rewarded well for that hard work.

"Often a Nosh franchise will suit a family where perhaps the husband and wife are able to bring their complementary skills to the franchise, and sometimes it even provides employment and career development opportunities for the children.

"Every Nosh franchise will have its own characteristics and unique local market and that's where a local franchisee can really add value."

The Nosh Stores franchise opportunity is being marketed by business broker Lindsey Holcombe, of Clyth MacLeod.