Over the last couple of years, there’s definitely been a shift in the type of businesses looking at franchising – and service-based franchises are high on that list.

Traditionally, when people thought about franchising, they thought about retail, food or hospitality brands. But more recently, we’ve seen a big increase in service-based businesses exploring franchise expansion instead.

A lot of that comes down to scalability.

Many service businesses can grow without the huge overheads that come with bricks-and-mortar locations. They’re often leaner operationally, easier to replicate and can work well on a territory basis.

You’ve also got customer demand changing. People increasingly want convenience and local service, whether that’s in property services, automotive, consultancy or home improvement.

A prime example of a service-based franchise

One business we’ve recently worked with is Leak Detective, a specialist leak detection company operating in the property services sector.

Ben Hunt – Leak Detective franchisee in Edinburgh

Like many modern service businesses, they had already built strong systems and processes internally before exploring franchising as a route for growth. The business model itself is also highly transferable, which is obviously a huge part of successful franchising.

What’s interesting is that we’re seeing more and more businesses like this entering the franchise space. Businesses with specialist expertise, strong operational systems and a service that’s needed nationwide.

Technology has played a big part too. A lot of service-based franchises now rely heavily on CRM systems, digital booking platforms and operational automation, which makes it much easier to maintain consistency across multiple territories.

From a franchisee perspective, these types of businesses can also be very attractive. In many cases, the overheads are lower than traditional retail models and the setup can be more flexible.

That doesn’t mean service franchising is “easy” of course. The same fundamentals still apply. The business has to be genuinely replicable, commercially viable and supported properly.

But there’s no doubt that the franchise market is evolving.

Some of the strongest growth we’re seeing at the moment is coming from service-led businesses with clear systems, strong branding and a model that works locally as well as nationally.