What-Franchise-Issue-20.1

TAHIR ZIA CUPP, Bradford, Leeds, Manchester Tahir Zia is well-versed in what it takes to run a financially successful business, having come from a sales and marketing background which saw him work across multiple sectors. Often, his clients were global giants, and his exposure to the international market prompted him to investigate importing a relatively undiscovered concept into the UK. “What we wanted to do was bring something back to the UK that was at its infancy here, but we knew globally it was already a big success, which is why we chose bubble tea,” he explains. Investing in a franchise model suited Tahir and his business partners’ ambitions to scale, and they decided to invest in CUPP. “It offered a structured path with various different business models which my skill sets and my partner’s skill sets could adapt and follow well, allowing us to focus on growing our portfolio.” It was decided that opening under CUPP’s kiosk model would be a wise starting point, and soon Tahir opened a kiosk in Broadway Shopping Centre in Bradford – a high footfall area. “Being our first store we were looking to keep our cost down and, with the kiosk, thought it was a lot cheaper than taking on the store and less risk,” he says. “With a kiosk you can uplift it and move it anywhere you want if it’s not working.” However, the CUPP kiosk was a success, and has enabled Tahir to open more locations across Yorkshire in kiosk and bricks and mortar stores. Both concepts have proven useful in capturing different types of customers – the grab and goers, and the dine-ins. “When people are out shopping, they’re grabbing a drink and then they’re leaving. At the same time, where we’ve got stores in Manchester and Blackburn, people want to take a drink and actually sit down, socialise, and meet with friends.” The mix of concepts has enabled Tahir to evaluate the different characteristics and challenges with a point of comparison. For instance, the bricks and mortar store is a larger investment but with that comes the space to extend revenue streams by offering additional products like sushi.Whereas, the low-cost kiosk has been advantageous in capturing passersby, but also requires an eagle eye on stock on account of there being little space. “The kiosks are very small and they are basically designed to have your key equipment in, but no storage,” explains Tahir. “So you need to start thinking about how much storage can you hold? Is there a storeroom close to the shops? Operationally we have to be quite smart.” This has prompted Tahir to act with extreme vigilance – starting his day each morning by looking over the stock, the sales figures, and the staffing rota. If need be, he’ll move things around to ensure no location is out of product. He also monitors customer reviews, because the openness of a kiosk creates a goldfish bowl, so high standards must be always maintained. “Everybody’s watching you and everybody can see what’s going on. So, you’ve got to make sure everything’s wiped down if you’re making something fresh and that you’re cleaning up after yourself.” This customer awareness is something that Tahir believes has been intrinsic to his success with CUPP. “Make sure that the customer is always happy and don’t give them something that you think they’re not going to enjoy,” he says. “Don’t treat them like a one-time purchase.” Although Tahir has built up enough brand reputation to graduate from kiosks to bricks and mortar stores, he plans to open more kiosk models in the future – as they can be incredibly lucrative in attracting casual footfall. “The kiosk was a simple operation where it doesn’t require any specialised skills,” he explains. “Once you’ve offered the training, it can be self-managed and that’s something that really attracted us.” “Once you’ve offered the training it can be self- managed and that’s something that really attracted us” – Tahir Zia CUPP is a bubble tea franchise that was founded 2012. It serves up drinks using its own in-house real fruit purees and syrups, as well as loose leaf tea, organic milk, and fresh fruit. Tahir’s goal is to be a multi- unit business owner. For him, using kiosks was a way to test out the success of the brand at a fairly low cost before investing in more and bigger locations. 64 WHAT FRANCHISE Issue 20.1