The Southern Co-op has revealed that it added 12 franchise stores to its estate last year.
The society operates more than 200 convenience food stores across the south of England, with 34 franchise stores now operating under its ‘Welcome’ fascia.
The format was revamped in January 2019 with the focus on attracting new franchise partnerships. As a result, Southern Co-op’s franchise operations team took on five new partnerships last year and it now has a total of 20 franchisees.
Mike Fitton, the society’s Franchise Business Manager, said: “We are proud to have attracted a range of experienced retailers to our co-operative family who have all welcomed our points of difference … As a collective, our franchisees are experiencing very positive like for like increases across all departments and we will continue to work closely with them to see where we can improve further.”
The franchisees are being encouraged to offer customers local produce to complement the Co-op range, which has been gradually expanding with the addition of COOK’s frozen ready meals across a number of stores.
Fitton added: “We’re already working with new and existing franchisees to add more Welcome stores across the south. We’ll be progressing even further in the new decade offering our franchisees the best of the Co-op product ranges whilst keeping their independence and ability to make local decisions.”
