pRofILE: BAKerS delightSince joining the business 23 years ago, general manager for operations gabby Kelly
has witnessed a lot of changes in Bakers delight, a family owned franchise with over
700 bakeries in four countries.
DELIGHTFUL
INNov ATIoN
Technology, innovation, changes in consumer
shopping habits, and expectations within the
market have been embraced by the business.
But their fundamental core values, and what
makes Bakers Delight stand out from the
crowd, have not deviated over the last 36
years, staying true to the mantra ‘to delight
every customer with beautiful, delightful
bread’. Bakers Delight have recently celebrated
their most successful Easter campaign to date,
after introducing innovative strategies and
new products into the stores.
Starting her career within one of the stores,
Gabby moved into the Bakers Delight
corporate office in 2000 and discovered
her true passion and joy, looking after the
company owned portfolio. In 2013 she
moved into her role of General Manager for
Operations where she assists the company run
over 580 bakeries across Australia, as well as
New Zealand. Each Bakers Delight territory
has its own Regional Manager to oversee that
region, and they in turn have a support team
of Area Managers reporting to them.
“Each franchisee gets a lot of personalised
contact and support,” says Gabby, “ensuringthat the communication channels between the
franchisor and the franchisee are always open.
We also have a large National Support office,
consisting of Marketing, Training, Finance,
and Human Resource teams amongst others,
all there and designed to support and interact
with our franchisees and partners.”
Gabby continues, “We support our franchisees
every step of the way. We’ve invested heavily
in innovation for our franchisees and
also their staff within the bakeries, which
is important to make sure we’re staying
on the front foot with regard to business
opportunities.”
Taking a different strategic approach to the
2017 Easter campaign, Gabby says, “As well
as launching new products, we changed the
way we implemented and rolled out the Easter
programme. We completed a number of large
national activation campaigns which included
mass-sampling and giveaways, to get the
product into people’s mouths and hands. As a
result of this innovation, we were very pleased
to see that we were over $4 million up in sales
compared to the previous year.”“once you get into the
business and it gets into your
blood, it’s hard to imagine
doing anything else.”The number of multi-site franchise owners
says a lot about a franchise brand and at
Bakers Delight, over 40 per cent of the
network own more than one store!
“What’s quite unique about Bakers Delight
is that we have evolved a multitude of entry
points for new franchisees,” Gabby explains.
“Whether it’s through the external market,
developing talents through our internal
programmes, or our more junior level ‘kick-
start’ program, there’s an opportunity to
get into this business. If you’ve got hunger,
passion, and a community focus, there’s
a pathway and career for you with Bakers
Delight.
“Once you get into the business and it gets
into your blood, it’s hard to imagine doing
anything else. It’s that perfect balance of
a family business, which has that sense of
community and connection, but it’s also big
enough where we can be leading and driving
the market.
“People look for stability and security and
want a large level of autonomy in what they
are doing and Bakers Delight can give them
the lifestyle and opportunity that they are
looking for,” Gabby says.Bakers Delight is looking for people
who share their values, are passionate,
motivated, and have a strong work ethic.
If this sounds like you, contact the
Franchise Recruitment team now to learn
more.
1300 309 759
http://www.bakersdelight.com.au/franchiseGabby Kelly, General Manager for Operations68 Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand