Lenard's franchisees lift profit

Date AddedAugust 28, 2009 12:56:05 PM

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Australia's largest specialty chicken retailer, Lenard's, says the average annual operating profit of its franchisees grew by 12.2 percent, while average sales increased by 2.19 percent, in the past financial year.

According to end-of-financial-year reports, gross profit of franchised stores rose to 52.44 percent, up from 50.56 percent last year.

Lenard's CEO Bruce Myers says these results are an excellent achievement considering the current economic climate and its effects on retail and grocery trade.

"Our three-phase growth strategy is well on its way to realising the goals we have set, from both a company and franchise perspective," he says.

"We are beginning to see the results of focusing our energy into increasing operating profits as the first phase of this plan, with our next step to look to growing sales, followed by customer numbers."

Over the past 18 months, Lenard's has been implementing a multi-faceted growth strategy aimed at capitalising on the increasing demand for premium quality fresh food with the convenience of home preparation.

"Lenard's is committed to long-term growth strategies in order to maximise the returns for our franchise owners and business partners," Myers says.

"We believe our franchise support program is second-to-none and we are committed to working with franchise owners to ensure their business grows year-on-year."

A formalised alliance with grocery and liquor wholesaler Metcash to roll-out its store-in-store concept through its IGA network has proved successful, with more than 35 already up and running and a further 18 in the pipeline.

Lenard's founder and Director, Lenard Poulter (pictured), says this is an exciting time for the company.

"We've injected even more funds and manpower into franchise recruitment growing our team from one person to four, to ensure we're able to meet the demand for potential new franchise owners," he says.

"We are the largest and strongest retail chicken company in Australia and that's because we've created a great business model with great people, and a brand that is so successful no one can take us on. We intend to keep it that way."