IFS provide an alternative approach to franchising your business via a joint venture ‘JV’.

We will provide not only franchise know-how but also the capital to fund the rollout.

We are interested in JV partnerships with all types of businesses that have the potential for a franchise roll-out.

We are sector agnostic but have a particular focus on home or vehicle based businesses.

Your business should be profitable or there should be a reason for the short term absence of profit.

Importantly, your business should have a dependable and predictable marketing approach that could subsequently be utilised by a franchisee.

Many banks cite a figure or £50,000 to £100,000 as the war chest needed to franchise a business.

At large, the results from franchising may be disappointing. A roll-out may fail to gain traction or even recover the initial investment in consultants and lawyers.

In some instances the business may not have been suitable for franchising. But franchise consultants, are driven by their fees – unlike IFS.

The USP of a franchise is fundamentally different from the USP of the underlying business. It takes long term focus to crystallise the franchise USP and ongoing expertise to exploit it.

IFS believe that via their JV approach they can maximise long term value for you and ourselves.

Forming a JV with IFS reduces your risk and provides a long term committed partner.

The specific type of JV will vary depending on, your business, the risks involved, the capital required and the best way forward.

Forming a JV with IFS does not effect ownership of your existing business. Our only interest is using the template of your business to establish a nationwide roll-out via the JV.

Your role in the JV? This depends upon what you want to do, your skills and how much time you can devote but we certainly want you to remain involved.

Broadly speaking, it makes sense for you to focus on your core business. IFS will then focus on the franchise structure, franchise recruitment and franchise management. Our commitment is ongoing and hands-on.

We will contribute financial capital to the JV to help promote the business to prospective franchisees.

IFS was set up in 2015 by Tony Rafferty.

In 2000, Tony founded the Printing.com franchise expanding the business to over 500 units operating in 10 countries. Tony successfully listed the company on The London Stock Exchange (AIM).

Under his tenure as CEO, the Company (now Grafenia plc) reported consecutive profit over a continuous twelve year period. Tony left Grafenia in 2015.

Tony also served as a director of the British Franchise Association.

In 2015, IFS formed a JV with GutterPRO and subsequently acquired the business. Since starting the franchise roll-out in September 2016, GutterPRO has expanded from a single unit to over 20. It is anticipated that GutterPRO will break through the 100 unit threshold in 2019.

Andy Smith, the founder of GutterPRO joined IFS in 2015.

The objective of IFS is to establish a portfolio of JV’s with an aggregate number of franchisees in excess of 500 by 2022; likely seeking an AIM listing and thereby creating an exit for respective JV partners.

In the first instance email Tony Rafferty with a brief outline of your business.

We will then arrange a time for an informal discussion.

At the next step we will put in place a non-disclosure agreement and if appropriate move forward with meeting in person.