Case Study - Thomas Palfreyman

Thomas Palfreyman hasn’t looked back since starting up his first Urban Planters franchise in Derbyshire in 1996.

From their rural office in the East Midlands, Thomas and his business partner, Sheila (who is also his mother), have built up a strong business which has expanded into a second franchise area, and now has an annual turnover of £560,000.

Urban Planters is a national franchise business, which specialises in the installation and maintenance of interior plants for business, leisure and commercial premises. With over 40 years’ experience in the business, it is an established industry name.

Why franchising?

When asked what made Thomas opt for a franchise, he said: “The fact that I could run a professional, efficient and structured business from day one was important to me, as was being able to work as part of a large team while also running my own company.”

Thomas came to Urban Planters with a wealth of experience with plants under his belt. He has an HND in horticulture, specialising in small business management and interior landscaping, and has had previous jobs at garden centres. He also helped out at his family’s landscaping business regularly.

But, the opportunity to work with plants wasn’t the main reason he approached Urban Planters: “Urban Planters have a great product, which customers instantly appreciate. It also has an excellent business model to work with.”

Getting started

Thomas and his team started off by collecting extensive information about businesses in the area. He was also given detailed guidance from Urban Planters on planning, sales, accounting, maintenance and installation. Despite having no sales experience Thomas took to it immediately, and cites solving customers’ problems and meeting new people as his favourite parts of the job.

Future focus

Looking ahead, Thomas isn’t planning to rest on his laurels and is keen to take his already thriving business further. 

“We now operate two franchise areas with a general manager, a sales person and lots of technicians. I can see us eventually moving into a third territory with another sales person.”

Sound advice

Thomas maintains that you don’t need experience with plants or sales to make an Urban Planters franchise work, although you do need to be driven to go looking for new business and enjoy getting out and meeting potential customers. He said anyone considering setting up a franchise business should make sure the franchisor offered a comprehensive support package and choose a good brand or product.

“The back up was excellent,” he said.

“We followed the format and it worked for us, so we don’t see why it shouldn’t work for everyone!”