Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses ranked top food franchise in Australia

The ranking, the findings of an independent survey of franchisees across the country, sees Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses as the top ranked food franchise in the country, as well as top ranked for passion among franchisees.

Part of the fifth generation of the family business, Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses CEO Steve Plarre said the company, which started in Melbourne in 1901, had recently gone through a cultural evolution to reinvigorate its relevance with franchisees. 

“When the new management team took the reins in 2012 we invited everyone down to the bakery for a barbecue and a beer to have a chat and take input on how the business could improve. Previously store visits to franchisees saw 75 percent of time spent on auditing and compliance and 25 percent on business support, now we’ve flipped it the other way around.

 “It is important to have franchisee buy in to any cultural change. When we spoke about our new vision for the business we shared with our franchisees that ‘We’re going to love you more than ever before but we’re also going to ask a lot more of you than ever before and if you don’t like it, that's OK too, just put your hand up and we will do our very best to help you exit the business elegantly'.

“No franchisee exited the business and just one year on we will open six more stores before Christmas, we have plans to double to 120 stores in Victoria, we’ve opened four stores in QLD and we’ll expand into NSW in the next six months. Franchisee satisfaction levels across our 62 locations soared,” Plarre said.

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ABOUT TOP FRANCHISE

For the last ten years market research house 10 THOUSAND FEET have been conducting research into franchisee satisfaction. topfranchise.com.au is a free consumer service powered by research house 10 THOUSAND FEET. The topfranchise award for franchisors and topfranchise.com.au is supported by subscription fees paid by franchisors for surveying their franchisees. It allows prospective franchisees to benchmark franchisors against industry performance across seven categories and provides links to franchisor websites, a library of articles with tips on what to look for in franchise opportunities, video profiles & testimonials. Ratings in each category are updated bi-annually, based on the results of 10 THOUSAND FEET’s ongoing Franchisee Satisfaction Surveys.

ABOUT FERGUSON PLARRE BAKEHOUSES

Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses has always been and still is a family owned and operated business. We have a long and proud history dating back to the 1800's. Both the Ferguson & Plarre Families have early European roots and we established ourselves in Australia over 110 years ago.

The 4th generation Plarre family acquired the Ferguson family's interest in 2012. They actively own and manage the day to day running of the business from baking through to retail shop design, operations and bakery franchising. They continue to embrace their forefather's commitment to quality products, service and innovation, including the use of only free-range chicken, hormone free beef, fresh cream (no mock!), real custard (no powder!) and a lot of love <3.

Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses are still famous for their desserts, birthday cakes, wedding cakes, award-winning meat pies and Tiddly Oggies and with over 200 years of combined experience, you’d expect nothing less.  Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses. Makes it good.

For more information, please contact Aaron Beckhouse, Marketing Manager, Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses on 03 9336 3200, or via email on aaron.beckhouse@plarrefoods.com.au.