Brendan Kingwill, Managing Director at BK's Takeaway, joined us for a brief chat at the Melbourne Franchising and Business Opportunities Expo, April 2022.

We covered some of the key aspects of the franchise business including the type of people that are best suited, any common misconceptions about the brand or industry, as well as advice or guidance for anyone looking to get into business for themselves, and more...

What is your business?

"Our business is BK's Takeaway. It's a fast-food family restaurant.

Where are you located?

We are located in regional Victoria at the moment, Trafalgar, Warragul, and a new store which has just opened in Geelong.

What do you love about the business and what you do?

What I love about our business is just the people we meet because you have a such high volume of customers, you get to meet so many different people from so many different backgrounds and so many different stories.

What do you look for in the right-fit person to be a franchise owner?

The right one to come into the business is definitely somebody who believes in our brand and believes in the direction they're going.

They need to be self-motivated.

We're not there to motivate people.

We're there to support people in their motivation.

Someone with strong family values that can fit into our strong family values and work together for a common goal.

What’s a common misconception you believe people have about your brand or niche?

We've just gone through a COVID pandemic, and in that period of time, it was tough for business.

The business has survived, but we've got people that have listened for two years how hard it is to be part of the business that has been drummed into them over that period of time.

So a lot of people are, quite rightly so, (are) skeptical about going into business.

The best time to go into business is with a growing economy and at the moment we have a growing economy.

What would be your advice for people looking to get into their own business?

Going into business is not a decision just about you. It involves your family. It involves your future. It involves giving up, possibly giving up a job that you've got.

But I would not change the decision I made to go into business for anything in the world.

It's given me the flexibility to control my life outside of work.

It's given a great avenue for my children to be involved in a business and the skills they've learned through that would not be taught anywhere else.

So my advice is to do your due diligence. Find something you love and go with it.

What is your key focus for the next 12-18 months?

Well, we've just gone through with COVID and we've gone through and re-analysed every aspect of our business to make sure that we're up to speed with the best technology, the best services, the best pricing, and everything that we can possibly do to make our business model more successful.

And our focus over the next 12 to 18 months is to establish that and to expand the brand with all the new systems in place."