VANCOUVER, British Columbia (BRAIN) —
With a vast new investment from a clean technology fund, cell service franchiser Velofix is leap-beginning its growth with plans to add 30 company-owned vans within the U.S. And Canada in the subsequent year. The corporation-owned vehicles might be similar to the ones owned by Velofix franchisees, who currently perform vehicles in one hundred twenty territories in North America.
Velofix has employed retail enterprise veteran and creator Donny Perry, who will open the U.S. Headquarters in Austin, Texas, to guide the company vehicles and franchisee operations. In the approaching year, Velofix will become a far larger operation, with plans to add 20 new personnel in Austin and its offices in Vancouver, plus 50-60 new mechanics to function the company trucks, CEO and co-founder Chris Guillemet stated. Besides the brand-new employees and centers, the privately-held agency will be personal vehicles and stock for the first time in years.
“It’s a shift for sure,” Guillemet told BRAIN. “But while we released, we did very own vans corporately. We’ve performed it before.”
He emphasized that Velofix will promote and assist franchises; however, he stated that corporate-owned locations — which can be not unusual inside the franchise enterprise — will help Velofix extend its footprint, including logo visibility and buying strength.
Last-mile achievement is a huge opportunity. An improved presence in key markets throughout the continent will also make Velofix more appealing to bike brands, mainly customer-direct manufacturers seeking assembly partners, delivery, and assurance service. Contracts with the one’s brands give Velofix operators an advantage over impartial mobile operators and offer the corporation a big promoting factor when drawing close capacity franchise owners.
“The extra vans on the street, the more dots on the maps, the extra appealing we’re to bike producers,” Guillemot stated. He said Velofix receives 30-40 monthly requests from bike brands seeking “ultimate-mile” achievement. Velofix has agreements with over 20 manufacturers to offer delivery, assembly, and motorcycle income or after-sale assembly and assurance providers. The agency is one of the delivery alternatives Canyon Bicycles and Amazon offers, notably. VeloFix hired former FSA supervisor Cameron Simpson to control vendor relations and the VeloFix Direct software. Guillemet said Velofix is underrepresented in several main markets. It has the simplest franchisee working inside the Chicago region, for example, and one in the Boston area. Both markets could guide greater vehicles.
“There is a false impression that certain territories are bought and long past — it has been one of our demanding situations,” he said.
While Velofix will honor exceptional territories it has offered to franchisees, he stated company vans will probably be introduced in a few large regions in which franchisees perform. Sales boom slows. In current years, Velofix’s new franchise income increase has slowed. It delivered 40 new U.S. Franchises in 2016, 37 in 2017, and 26 last 12 months, in line with its March 2019 U.S. Franchise Disclosure Document. Every yr that wide variety became beneath public projections. Velofix ended preceding plans to expand into Europe in the brief term, although Guillemet said international growth stays a long-term goal.
The March disclosure, available from the California Department of Business Oversight, changed into published at the Ashburn Bicycle Repair internet site. Operated by Rob Crangle, Ashburn is an independent cellular motorbike repair operation in Virginia. Crangle speculates approximately Velofix’s company’s monetary viability and its franchisees’ performance on the site. He tries to compare Velofix franchise costs and blessings to alternatives. “Although I’ve been given a critical eye on Velofix, I’m additionally a massive fan,” Crangle instructed BRAIN. “They’ve finished a ton of proper for the cell bike store enterprise (if I can call it that). I trust we, ‘independents,’ have benefited from Velofix and all of their marketing and outreach. I desire they live to tell the tale and prosper. Likewise, if they fail, that might place a piece of a stain at the relaxation folks.” Guillemet said on a corporate level that Velofix is financially wholesome, including that Velofix is not looking for additional do. Investment while MKB Partners Fund LP, a Montreal-primarily based smooth generation fund, approached. The length of the funding, announced in May, changed to no longer disclosed.
