Ed’s keeps it real

Ed’s is the UK garden maintenance franchise market leader with 37 Operators. We are also the fastest growing UK garden maintenance franchise.

We’re thrilled with our success but never arrogant or complacent about it. We attribute this success to a whole mix of factors but we firmly believe that our values are at the core of our success. At Ed’s we place huge value on integrity and authenticity – that’s to say, good old-fashioned honesty and “keeping it real”. These values are at the very heart of Ed’s and run right through our business. It is simple; we deliver what we say we will at every turn. At the coalface, it’s what differentiates us from a lot of the competition. Our Operators consistently deliver excellent garden services with integrity and a smile. Our mantra is “prompt, reliable and efficient” and that’s what our Operators are. We do exactly what it says on the can (or the van in our case!)

It’s precisely the same principle when it comes to recruiting new franchisees. We are very clear about what we offer in our package and are completely ethical and transparent in our approach. We create no illusions and tell it exactly as it is. In Ed’s what we offer is purely the opportunity to run your own business delivering excellent gardening services whilst having fun, freedom and flexibility to shape things as you wish. We provide a great business model, which if followed properly, gets good results and we work closely with our business owners to support them to get it working right for them. We go the extra mile to support our Operators and they know that we are always there for them. The result is motivated Operators who feel that they have the best of both worlds as they have their own successful businesses but still feel secure as part of the Ed’s team. That’s it, pure and simple.

When someone is considering joining Ed’s, we do our best to portray life as an Ed’s Operator for exactly what it is. It’s not absolutely perfect 100% of the time (life never is) but it does tick a lot of boxes. We feel that by giving people the true picture, they are far more likely to make the right choice for them and, if they do decide to come on board, stay committed to being part of Ed’s. It’s one of the reasons we welcome potential franchisees going out on the road with established Operators and give them carte blanche to ask whatever they want. More importantly, we give our Operators carte blanche to tell them the whole truth – no script, no hype, just honesty.

Training is another area where it is easy for franchisors to say they will deliver lots and in reality not do that much at all. At Ed’s we value our Operators above all else and train and support them to make their garden maintenance businesses as successful as they can be. We don’t just say that we are committed to training – we really are. Why wouldn’t we be given that a successful Operator network is the key measure of the success of Ed’s? We offer excellent initial and ongoing training, bespoke business coaching and have a great buddying system which pairs up our new Operators with established ones. The investment fee we receive from new franchisees is not sent away somewhere to be stashed in our coffers – indeed we invest a substantial part into the development of the franchisee. The investment fee funds the training and support that we consider to be critical to Operators realising their full potential.

Finally we are full members of the British Franchise Association (bfa), which is the voluntary self-regulatory body for the UK franchise sector. In a nutshell, the bfa promotes ethical franchising practice in the UK. In order to quality for this membership status, the bfa demands very exacting and stringent standards of business ethics and transparency of business practices. Many franchise businesses choose not to become members of the BFA but at Ed’s we welcome being held to account and having to conduct our business to these high ethical standards. Indeed, we wouldn’t have it any other way.