Jane Muffitt was looking for a new direction after a long career in the hospitality sector which had taken her all over the world and brought her into contact with the rich and famous.
Now the York franchisee of Mail Boxes Etc., Jane had enjoyed a variety of different jobs in hotels, on ships and in international theme parks. These posts included being a hotel manager in London for seven years, a systems trainer and installer in hotels, running hotel operations with Euro Disney, a trainer with P & O Cruises and she also worked at Disney World in Orlando. She spent a month in India training the new crew for P & O’s ship “Oriana” and met the Queen and Prince Phillip at the luxury liner’s naming ceremony.
Originally from West Yorkshire, Jane chose to return to her roots with her Mail Boxes Etc. franchise. “I had become seriously interested in franchising and was looking at a new store location in either west London where I was living at the time or somewhere in Yorkshire, possibly Harrogate,” Jane explains. “But an existing store in York became available for sale and I thought that buying a going concern was an easier, quicker and better commercial prospect than starting a new one.”
Jane first came across franchising when she worked in a hotel franchise. She recognised the benefits and advantages of franchising and concluded that buying a franchise offered reduced risk, a positive brand identity, a proven business model and ongoing central support.
When she decided she needed a change, she re-discovered the concept and began some serious research before finding out more firsthand by going to a franchise exhibition in Birmingham. She met Mail Boxes Etc. on their stand and was impressed by the franchise. She explains: “It has a professional image, it is a clean business where you don’t need to carry masses of stock and nothing is perishable. Mail Boxes Etc. offers a wide range of different services, generating a variety of revenue streams as well as creating plenty of interest in the working day.
“My first impression of Mail Boxes Etc., gained from meeting franchisees, franchise support staff and the head office team, was very positive. I decided to buy the York store because there was an established business and I was confident that the potential for profit and growth was strong in the city, which has a good representation of MBE’s target markets.
“These include the university, with its international links, tourists throughout the year, a plethora of businesses and an apparently affluent local population who need our mailboxes, packing, shipping, copy and design and printing services.”
Jane has been running her store for six years and in the last 18 months she has concentrated on developing the antiques part of the business, working with auction houses to pack and ship rare and valuable items to all parts of the UK and abroad. Some of the more interesting items have included a couple of Chinese dishes which had been listed by the auctioneers as being worth around £30 but which actually fetched £11,000 and were shipped back to the Orient; and a pair of very large stuffed sea eagles in a glass cabinet which went to a private buyer in London.
“Cellos seem to be popular at the moment,” Jane said. “They are large and obviously very delicate so difficult to pack for dispatch. We had one recently which was safely delivered to Germany all in one piece.”
Jane wants to continue to grow her successful and profitable business and to start planning for retirement so she can realise her ambition to live in the French Alps. “It would be wonderful to have unlimited access to the slopes in the season,” she said. “In the meantime, I am enjoying all the variety of my business and the people I meet every day.”
