2020 was a year without parallel. However, amid all difficulties, we delivered one of the strongest years in franchising. We’ve demonstrated strengths, navigating with agility through the turbulent times, caused by the pandemic, shifting our focus and quickly adapting to the new normal. During these uncertain times, we stay by our values and commitments to our loyal franchise partners, customers and employees. We’ve achieved many milestones, set new goals and learnt many lessons that will take into 2021. 

It’s mid-December and it’s time to share some of the most memorable highlights and accomplishments from the past year with you – our Fantastic community.

Success, recognised by the franchising industry

This year, we’ve broken our all-time best for awards and nominations. So far, we received multiple prizes and recognition from one of the most influential and respected organisations in the franchising industry. 

Fantastic Services franchise was named a winner in Global Business Excellence Awards, Franchise Innovation Awards, CV Magazine Franchise Awards and the Approved Franchise Association Awards. 

Our company was recognised for outstanding business, best franchisee support, most innovative service introduction, outstanding marketing, as well as for our CRM platform.

One of our most successful franchisees at Fantastic Services – Ivanka Obreshkova – nominated in the Inspirational Woman in Franchising category at the EWIF Awards 2019, has won the gold in the prestigious Franchisee of the Year category at this year’s AFA Awards, where our co-founder Anton Skarlatov has also won the silver for a Franchise Leader of the Year.

See also: Interview with the inspirational Area Development franchisee Ivanka Obreshkova

Another great accomplishment was that we’ve ranked amongst the UK’s TOP 100 franchises, according to Elite Franchise Top 100 and Franchise Direct Top 100. 

Although the winners of some of the awards have yet to be announced over the coming months, we are proud to be finalists in ceremonies, hosted by distinguished organisations like the QFA.

Rocking at several events

Some of the events we’ve been planning to attend during the year were cancelled, however, we managed to consolidate our virtual presence by being part of a few virtual franchise exhibitions, including International Franchise Expo, Virtual Franchise Show and Franchising Show India. Overwhelmed with the interest we received from the expos, we certainly proved that our franchise opportunities are getting more and more attractive not only in the UK but also across the globe. 

While attracting new franchisees to join our growing network, we didn’t forget about our existing fantastic partners. We hosted our 2nd annual franchise conference in Luton, where we’ve gathered all our franchisees to express gratitude, resolve problems, plan the future, and of course, have some fun.

Conquering the home services industry together

Day after day, we feel like nothing’s moving fast enough. We look at our achievements, we’re never entirely satisfied, we keep aiming for more partners, more territories, more jobs and higher revenue. We are constantly striving for better results than the day before. However, with 2020 coming to an end, it’s time to take a step back and look at what we accomplished so far. We realise that our expansion is more than twice bigger than list year. Thanks to all Fantastic humans, it seems like we’ve come a long way, after all. 

We signed 12 new UK territories in 2020. Yes, you read that right – we welcomed 10 new Area Development franchisees to the Fantastic Family, who are already successfully managing their property-maintenance businesses. 

You can now see our vans passing the streets of Swindon, Tonbridge, Portsmouth, Luton, St. Albans, Guildford, Coventry, Chelmsford, Sheffield, Birmingham, Slough and Hemel Hempstead.

Despite (or because of) the current situation, these people believed in our franchise model and decided to join a sustainable industry of property maintenance. One of the main benefits that attract our partners is our innovative mindset. 

Innovation is the key component for dealing with the new economy. Our adaptive business model, high-end technology and most importantly, our strong value system and support for all franchisees is what makes us fantastic.

How innovation thrived

John Kennedy once observed that the word “crisis” in Chinese is composed of two characters – one representing danger, the other opportunity.

His statement was right. The crisis presents a choice. As a company, we choose to not only survive the crisis but view it as an opportunity to grow, innovate and thrive. 

With that being said, 2020 was definitely a successful year of innovation. While many competitors were tightening their budgets, we continued to invest in new technology and business development. 

Launching newly developed services

Ever since we heard the news about the coronavirus outbreak, we realised that this could turn into a problem. Since the well-being of our customers and franchisees has always been of an utmost priority for us, we started looking for a mutually-beneficial way to support both. Thus, we’ve developed services that could be profitable, yet useful in the time of the pandemic. We launched Antiviral Sanitisation Service, as well as Minimal Contact, Inventory and Emergency services. 

Since 2009, we are proudly founded on the principles of innovation and creativity. This is exactly what helped us adapt our traditional services and implement innovative ones, so we can thrive in the middle of the breakdown. 

Disruptive technological improvements

This year, we also finalised a very important project, we’ve been working on for over a year. We launched our new website – FantasticFranchise.com. The website features a dedicated page for each location in the UK that you may be interested to start a franchise in, including useful industry information and demographic insights for the available areas. Its stunning easy-to-navigate design represents all franchise opportunities in the best way possible. FantatsicFranchise.com really makes users drain in the franchise industry.

What’s more, we gave a slick new look to our customer app – GoFantastic, making it possible to book a service for less than 30 seconds. 

Last but not least, we opened our internal franchisee training platform – Fantastic Academy – for everyone who wants to enter a recession-proof industry after a job loss. 

Our aims became our duties

Fantastic Service’s mission has always been to make people’s lives a bit easier and a bit happier. Regardless of the challenging times in 2020, our purpose remained the same. However, our priorities changed.

Key workers campaign 

We launched a campaign for all the frontline workers and teachers. The offer lets NHS staff, police, firefighters, teachers and those in the military claim regular two-hour professional cleaning visits, usually charged at £32. 

As a result, we’ve supported over 600 frontline workers, delivering free cleaning and other home services on preferential rates. Our aim was to make their busy lives a little bit easier and share our appreciation for the people who risk their lives every day for our nation. 

Easy-entry franchise opportunities

In view of the COVID-19 situation, we started a new initiative to support everyone who lost their job or feel insecure in the industry they work. We’ve decided to give people the chance to grow a successful business, for an initial fee as small as £5,000. Until then, our working franchise opportunity was available mostly in London. So, we decided to offer more affordable franchise packages anywhere across the UK.

Are you interested in our franchise opportunities? Join our ranks of Fantastic partners and run a profitable and stable business.

Inquire

Giving back to society, regardless of the situation

Apart from the NHS support we’ve mentioned above, we launched a few other campaigns to support everyone who is struggling during 2020.

  • We set up a fundraiser for the bushfires in Australia
    During the worst fire in the history of the continent, Anton Skarlatov, founding director of Fantastic Services, has started a fundraiser to support the NSW Rural Fire Service & Brigades, raising $1,120 to support the organisation.
  • We offered free services for people who helped during the lockdown
    Aiming to make July more bright and happy, we wanted to express our gratitude for people who go out of their way to help those who are struggling. We rewarded these good people with a free service, so they could be a little more well-rested and relaxed.
  • We participated in Unblocktober 
    Again, we proudly joined the global efforts of keeping our environment free of pollution. We’ve signed up for Unblocktober – a committed follow-up, in a way, of our last year’s involvement in maintaining the shores of one of the major watercourses in the UK clean – the Thames, together with the non-profit organisation Thames 21. 
  • We donated Christmas trees
    Every Christmas, we think of ways to help those who could use a little bit of support and holiday cheer! This year, armed with generosity and goodwill, we got in touch with different schools and care homes across the UK and donated nine 6-feet Christmas trees.

Let’s build the next wave of progress in 2021

Despite everything that happened in 2020, we once again continued to grow, exceeding our performance expectations and adding new capabilities. With everything that we achieved in the past year, 2021 seems to be another successful period for Fantastic Services. We are looking forward to expanding our markets and building strong relationships with our current and future franchisees. 

This year, we announced our mission to help 1,000 people build £1 million-businesses. We’ve already proved this possible with six of our Area Developers reaching over £1,000,000 revenue. We will continue to work on this, constantly reaching new heights and expanding our franchise globally. 

Finally, we want to say a huge THANK YOU to our Fantastic community that made the above possible. 

If you’re interested in joining an ever-growing franchise and be part of our achievement and success in 2021, explore our franchise opportunities. 

I’m interested!
  • Last update: November 17, 2021

Posted in Fantastic Family, What's new