Self Service Box Franchise Offers Work/Life Balance

Owning a Snack-in-the-Box franchise allowed the Sheik’s to reduce their working hours and spend more time with their family.

Kashif Sheik and wife Sarah bought their self service box franchise three years ago. Kashif had been looking for a franchise for some time, but needed to be confident that it could offer the work-life balance he desired, as well as giving him the amount of support he felt he would need to get his new business off the ground. The answer was closer to home than he imagined when he heard from a local Snack-in-the-Box franchisee.

While Kashif spends his working day delivering the boxes and meeting customers, his wife Sarah sources new customers on days off from her full time job as a bio-mechanical scientist.

FS Blog: Why did you decide to buy a Snack-in-the-Box franchise?

Kashif Sheik: A neighbour of ours runs his own Snack-in-the-Box franchise and was always telling us how great his business is. I became intrigued and started asking more serious questions about the company and how the business works.

His feedback was very positive and he recommended the opportunity as being exactly what we were looking for in a franchise. Importantly, he reassured us that the support has been there for him – and he was right. We’ve always found Snack-in-the-Box to be incredibly supportive.

FS Blog: How is the business doing now?

Kashif: Our business is very successful, turning over £2,500 per week. We’re much better off now, but not just financially. We spend quality time together as a family, and I just couldn’t achieve that with my previous business.

FS Blog: So all in all it’s been a great move?

Kashif: Yes, this company is amazing. I love it! Before doing this I worked long days all week and couldn’t see my family as much as I would have liked. Now, with our self-service ‘honesty box’ franchise I work less hours, and for just five days a week. It’s great to have the weekend to spend time with my children.

FS Blog: And Sarah, what do you life most about running a franchise?

Sarah Sheik: I really enjoy canvassing and getting in front of new customers. Once they see the range of products we offer and appreciate that we come and see them every week, they rarely say no.

FS Blog: Did you have any experience in this before you started?

Sarah: I knew nothing about canvassing before we started our franchise. Now I look forward to meeting potential customers and showing them just how good our service is. Everyone likes snacks in the workplace, especially chocolate, so it’s certainly not a hard sell.

Snack-in-the-Box franchisees are not obliged to cold-call customers, as head office provides a team of canvassers to source business for all new and existing franchisees. Watching professional salespeople on their week-long training course, and spending time with existing franchisees, gave Sarah the confidence to pitch for the business herself. The Sheikhs have now built a customer base of more than 170 SMEs in the Edinburgh area.

Snack-in-the-Box self-service boxes are distributed to small to medium sized businesses of between 2 and 20 employees. Filled with Mars-branded products such as Snickers, Maltesers and Galaxy, as well as savoury snacks and crisps, franchisees benefit from a simple cash business with the credibility of a global confectionary brand.