This is the remarkable story of how one boss was so keen to retain the services of a husband and wife team, he turned his business into a franchising operation and then signed them up.
If anyone requires confirmation that hard work pays dividends, then look no further than Zsolt Barabas. His story is a tale of inspiration, after arriving in the UK from Hungary 10 years ago. Zsolt, and his Hungarian wife, started out working as cleaners for Thomas Cleaning but within a year had become the company’s first franchisee.
A decade later, Zsolt and his wife own a number of franchise territories and employ more than a dozen people. He is also the largest franchisee within the group, and has ambitions to expand further. As for his own journey, he says: “My wife and I are Hungarian. When we arrived in the UK in 2010, we got jobs as cleaners.
“We were good at our job and very soon the owner, Richard Thomas, had us training new members of staff. After a year we decided we wanted to leave but Richard persuaded us not to go. He offered to franchise his own business and then sell us the first franchise. We had saved hard in that first year of work, and every penny we earned went back in to buying the franchise. It was risky but we felt it was a risk worth taking and luckily for us, it was.”
Thomas Cleaning had started out in 1990, before becoming a franchise operation 21 years later. In August of this year, the company was purchased by Taylor Made Franchising, which already owned four other successful businesses as part of its franchise portfolio. Simon Warren, who has been with Thomas Cleaning since 2016, runs the company on a day-to-day basis, supported by David Callister, the Group Franchise Director of Taylor Made Franchising.
Explaining why he and his wife chose to buy a franchise, rather than set up their own cleaning company, Zsolt added: “As eastern Europeans, who had only just arrived in the country, we knew it would be hard for us to start our own cleaning business. If a potential client researched our company, they would quickly discover we had only been open a few months. This would understandably make people nervous about letting us into their homes. So buying a franchise business solved that problem.”
Thomas Cleaning, which is part of the Taylor Made Franchising stable, has clients all over the UK, servicing both commercial and residential customers. Taylor Made‘s owner, Darren Taylor, said: “Thomas Cleaning has just celebrated 30 years in business, which is no mean feat. Although we have only recently purchased the company, we are keenly aware of its history and we look forward to leading it into its next glorious 30 years.
“As with all our franchise operations, we try to make life as profitable as possible for our franchisees, innovating and shaping as we go. It’s still early days but we are looking forward to welcoming new franchisees to Thomas Cleaning very soon, while helping them to build profitable, sustainable businesses.”
And Zsolt is already enjoying working for a new boss, saying: “I’ve had a couple of meetings with Darren, while David comes to visit me twice a month, supporting me with strategy and growth tools for my business. The future looks rosy indeed.”
About Taylor Made Franchising
Founded in 2006 by Darren Taylor, Taylor Made Franchising owns the following businesses:
- StumpBusters UK Ltd
- Wilkins Chimney Sweep
- PVC Vendo
- Traas Pest Control
- Thomas Cleaning
