What do you do?

Is that all you do?

Can I really make a living doing this?

Can I do it part-time?

Do I have to work weekends?

Will I need help?

How much money do I need to get started?

What if I don't have all the money available?

What's included in the Franchise package?

Will you help me get started?

Are there quiet and busy periods?

How much can I expect to make?

Do I need to be a Limited Company?

Do I need to be VAT registered?

Do I need a van?

What will my territory be?


What do you do?
Finishing Touch Covers provides a range of beautiful, high quality chair covers and complimentary sashes for business and private functions. These can include corporate events, weddings, christenings, birthday parties and summer balls.

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Is that all you do?
Our main market focus is weddings and with over 250,000 of these every year in the UK, there's little time to do much else! Seriously though, we do lots of weddings every year and when you factor in the cleaning, transportation, sales paperwork and administration necessary to run your own business you'll soon see that this is a full time job that enables you to make good revenues and excellent profits just from providing chair covers.

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Can I really make a living doing this?
Weddings are an all year round business so yes you can. Not only that but you can make a very good living from doing it and it offers several major benefits over a standard 9 to 5 role:

  It's local to you, so no more commuting
  It's flexible, so you can make more time to spend with your
     family and friends
  It's fun as you're dealing with clients planning for a happy event
  It's building a business you can be proud of and sell on

It's largely up to you how much money you make from running your business. If you actively engage in sales and marketing activities you will stand to make a good income. If you do less sales and marketing work then you will make modest revenues and less profit. We will help you to identify the venues in your territory and then it's over to you to figure out how many events you are likely to have to perform every week. From this we will be able to work out what sort of revenue level you can expect to achieve from your territory.

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Can I do it part-time?
You can but the returns won't be as good as they would if you were doing it full time. Assuming you only do one wedding on a Friday and one wedding on a Saturday every week, you'd still be doing over 100 weddings a year. Depending on the size of the wedding and the price charged that could still equate to a reasonable level of revenue from a minimal amount of work. If you don't plan to work your territory on a full time basis, we would look to have more than one franchisee in that territory to cover for the periods when you are unavailable.

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Do I have to work weekends?
Yes but not all day. Most of the time you'll be able to go into a venue in the morning, set up and be finished by lunchtime or early afternoon. There may be occasions where there are late weddings or late receptions which means you can perform more fittings in a day and there will be really busy periods over Bank Holiday weekends or in August and September, for example, where you choose to perform more fittings than normal but this can be controlled by you.

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Will I need help?
Yes. It is much better to have help as it means you're not putting yourself under undue pressure. Sharing this workload means you can take holidays and/or days off but still know that the business will continue to function. It is also useful to get a network of part time workers together to help out at weekends and busy periods.

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How much money do I need to get started?
You will need about £21,000 in your first year of which £12,500 is for the Franchise Fee. This will cover things like van leasing, stationery, phones, extra stock, premises, etc.

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What if I don't have all the money available?
Ideally you will have some if not all of it but if you don't then you may be able to get help from your bank. We work closely with HSBC, NatWest, and LloydsTSB - all of whom have divisions specifically focussed on franchises. Please talk to us to find out more about how they can help you.

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What's included in the Franchise package?
The package includes stock, training, market research, advertising and marketing materials, uniforms, and much more besides. We want you to get up and running as quickly as possible and the package is designed to enable you to do just that.

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Will you help me get started?
Of course. We will give you Sales and Marketing training and also we will help you to create adverts to place in the local press. We will help you identify the local venues to talk to in order to promote your products and services.

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Are there quiet and busy periods?
There are obviously busier months for weddings but there are no really quiet periods as people get married all the time. You will of course be able to plan your activity levels according to your own business and life goals.

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How much can I expect to make?
This really depends how hard you are willing to work. If you only do 1 wedding a week then you'll only make 52 times whatever the average cost of your wedding party size is. If you do 2 or 3 weddings a week then you'll make a good income and if you do more than 5 weddings a week then you have the potential to make a great deal of money. We will review projected revenues and profits with you later in the process.

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Do I need to be a Limited Company?
Yes. It is important that you are in order that you can put relevant insurance policies in place for Public Liability, etc. This will not prevent you from trading as Finishing Touch Covers and will provide reassurance to your clients that they are dealing with a stable and reputable company.

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Do I need to be VAT registered?
You should seek professional guidance from HM Revenue & Customs or a financial advisor regarding your VAT situation.

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Do I need a van?
Yes. The van is not only an ideal way to transport you and the product to a venue but it will also be painted in the corporate livery to provide you with a moving advertisement.

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What will my territory be?
Your territory will ideally be based around the area in which you live and are therefore familiar with the local venues and road system. This is important as it means that you can properly support your local customers and venues.

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