Steve Strangward, owner of the Richmond franchise, told ProPrint his seven-staff business was committed to “loving our customers to death and making sure we provide awesome service”.
“Staff are critical. Finding and holding on to staff with a great attitude to the customer and teamwork has been difficult but… really rewarding. That’s what got us the 20% growth. Customers like dealing with the staff,” he said.
The Melbourne franchise is on track to record single-figure growth this financial year, according to Strangward.
He said he knew nothing about printing when he and wife Kate Stedman bought Richmond in 2004.
He wanted to move from corporate life to being his own boss and was willing to consider anything as long as it wasn’t retail or food. He ended up with Kwik Kopy because he wanted the security of joining a franchise and had a friend who ran his own printing franchise.
Strangward said he initially struggled because he didn’t understand printing and made the mistake of retaining staff who weren’t as committed to customer service as he was.
Changes he has made in his eight years include an increasing embrace of digital technology, the introduction of online ordering and a move away from spot colour work to CMYK.
Strangward told ProPrint he was surprised to win the award, because he had no idea he was in the running.
Franchises submit data to Kwik Kopy Australia so headquarters can monitor the market. That information is then used to help pick a winner.
Chief executive David Bell said Richmond prevailed after a thorough selection process.
“Not only do we look at centres exceeding KPIs in areas such as production efficiency, profitability, profit growth, sales and sales growth, we also take into consideration qualitative measures such as a franchise’s contribution to the Kwik Kopy system,” he said.
“The team at Kwik Kopy Richmond is the epitome of what we want from and for our franchisees.”
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