The two-day Franchising and Start Your Own Business Expo in Sydney on 30 and 31 May saw a high visitor turnout.
Event director, Tim Collett, told Franchise Executives the expo’s visitor attendance reflected people’s energy and enthusiasm for business ownership.
High-profile food brands exhibiting included Domino’s, Baskin Robbins, The Coffee Club and Sushi Sushi.
The Coffee Club’s franchise development manager Jonathan Bate told Franchise Executives the two days had been “a fantastic success”
“This year’s Franchising Expo in Sydney has been a fantastic success for The Coffee Club. The event provided a valuable opportunity to reconnect with industry colleagues while also engaging with hundreds of motivated prospective business owners.
“Across the weekend, we served more than 1,100 coffees and generated over 125 registered enquiries, demonstrating strong interest in the brand.
“This marks the first time The Coffee Club has invested in the Expo in many years, and the results clearly highlight that it was a worthwhile and impactful investment,” Bate said.
Strong interest from visitors
At Sushi Sushi, Karla Shand, chief development officer, said “We’ve had a fabulous two days and great candidate quality. We had six sites ready to go and I reckon we’ve almost franchised all of them.”
LeWrap was another food franchise that reported a successful event.
Manal Haydar, general manager – franchising, at LeWrap’s Retail Systems Group, said “It has been so busy, I’m stoked at the turnout. We’ve had amazing conversations; people are thinking of leaving the corporate world to do something for themselves.”
Logistics business InXpress is a regular exhibitor at the Franchising Expo. Michelle Price, chief commercial officer at InXpress APAC, was pleased with the number of leads.
“It’s been an excellent franchising expo, with lots of engagement and lots of good business owners with an idea of what they are looking for, and definitely invested and ready to go. It’s been a very good outcome,” Price said.
First time exhibitors included Luneburger German Bakery, BP Tax and Freedom Property Styling.
Rachel Ismen, who holds the Australian license for Freedom Property Styling, an offshoot of the retail chain, said the expo had been “surprisingly good, and we’ve had a couple of good leads”.
The Franchising Expo and the Start Your Own Business Expo ran concurrently in the same hall. Each expo had a free seminar program held in a dedicated theatre area.
Specialised Events, which organises the expos, will run the final event of the year in Melbourne at the Exhibition Centre from 1 to 2 August.
