Richard & Diane
Richard and Diane Garnett have been operating their Newbury franchise for over ten years. As former clients of Ripples, they had their own ‘light-bulb’ moment after discovering the Ripples franchise opportunity.
A change of career
With an HNC in aeronautical engineering, Richard spent seven years as a skilled engineer in the Royal Airforce, honing his skills and gaining valuable experience which ultimately led him to a corporate career in technology development for global telecommunications company Panasonic. However, in 2006, as the economic recession began to bite, Panasonic made essential cut-backs and Richard was made redundant. Keen to make the best out of an unfortunate situation, Richard decided the time had come to utilise all the skills and experience he had gained over the years and make them work for him. Looking for inspiration in various business and franchise magazines, he spotted an an advert for Ripples franchise opportunities which he decided to explore further.
“I liked the idea of Ripples because I knew that buying a franchise was a less risky way to start a business. Failure rates for franchises are much lower than private start-up businesses.”
-Richard, owner of Ripples Newbury
Research, research and more research
Conscious that this was a life-changing decision, Richard spent six months thoroughly researching the Ripples opportunity, including visiting Ripples showrooms across the country, digesting information packs from Ripples head office and researching and reviewing Ripples across all online channels. This research, as well as being previous clients, gave Richard the confidence to start his own franchise alongside Diane who was at the time working as a registered childminder.
To kickstart their Ripples journey, Richard and Diane engaged in two weeks on-the-job training at Ripples flagship showroom in Bath, alongside training in business, sales and finance from the franchise support team. This gave Richard and Diane the confidence they needed to run their own busy showroom and gave them both practical and theoretical understanding of how the business would work.
“I feel empowered owning my own business.We are optimistic and looking ahead with excitement.”
-Diane, owner of Ripples Newbury
A decade on…
Since opening over ten years ago, Richard and Diane have created an incredibly successful business which continues to grow year after year. “My advice to anyone buying a franchise” says Richard, “is to listen to the franchisor because they know the business inside out. Follow what they say, even if you think you know better, and you can’t go wrong. I personally think that not being from the bathroom industry was great for us, we didn’t have any preconceptions and just did what we were told and it’s worked out well for us. You can really tell it’s a family business and I think the whole ethos just shines through. In my experience, husband and wife teams do this as a way of life rather than just a money-making exercise.”
