Nikos and his partner began their affair with Mr Jeff just prior to the Covid-19 confinement. A confinement that would last six months in Greece, and would make his first months of business very difficult. Even so, with hard work, his desire to improve and learn, and a little bit of patience, he managed to get ahead and become one of the most profitable Mr Jeff's in the world.
Today, in this new installment of Sharing Experiences, our partner in Greece (the first in the country!) tells us what he enjoys most about working with Mr Jeff and the biggest challenge he has faced since he started.
Keep reading and find out. 🫧👔
During my career, I have worked with other national and international brands, and I have to say that my experience with Jeff has been very different from the others.
After these 3 years with you, I would like to highlight the team you have behind you, who are good people who are always willing to listen and communicate. We get a lot of respect, a lot of attention. My experience with other international companies is that as a partner you can't contribute much, you don't have a say. Here, with Jeff, we do. We are partners, with the real meaning of the word. It's not just a piece of paper, it's not about signing an agreement and getting started; our relationship doesn't end there. And that, for us, is very interesting.
My answer is one name: Vasilis Valaris (Jeff Country Manager in Grecia).
Here, let me explain. My partner and I opened our first hub on December 1, 2020, just five days after the six-month confinement began. For six months we hardly had any customers or profits, but we did have to pay the rent for the premises, the fees, we had already finished the training... These first months were very hard for us, because of the investment we had made and the typical daily efforts of any business that has just started. At that time I think I talked to Vasilis 25 times a day: good morning, good evening, how was the day, what happens if this happens, what happens if it doesn't... It was like we were married haha
We know that all business start-ups are tough, but for us, because of the Covid situation, it was even tougher. There were times when we were very discouraged. But we saw all the energy Jeff had, the family atmosphere, the passion put into things, and we decided that things would change at some point, that they would get better. And so it was. You are a great team, working with and for us directly or indirectly, and that is what keeps us going: knowing that with you things are always getting better.
Well, the biggest challenge I would say was right at the beginning. When we opened the laundries, during the first week, no one came in. No one. Three open stores, not a single person. Suddenly, one day I was talking to my partner and an employee in one of the hubs and a customer came in with a jacket. After asking us about the business and our services, he decided to leave the jacket with us to wash and dry. That’s when we realized. We took the jacket, left it on the counter and started trying to remember all the training, the Jeff Academy videos, everything that had been explained to us about how to proceed. So there we were, three people, looking at a jacket and saying, "what do we do now?" haha.
By this I mean, beyond opening the business, we can't talk about a stand-alone challenge. The real challenge is all the daily work behind it, all the things that come up. Every day there are new challenges, and we make mistakes. We just have to be patient and realize that we will make mistakes and that we have a lot to learn. In the end, satisfaction also derives from all these positive experiences, from holding on to the good part of the difficulties.
Now we have a consolidated customer base, people who have tried other laundries have come back to us because of the way we work and the quality they get. In our case, in Greece, the standard laundry processes are quite simple, which is why we have positioned ourselves as experts in the sector. And that is seen in the customer's satisfaction: we see that they choose us because we offer them something that the competition cannot.
Apart from all that, for me, the greatest satisfaction has undoubtedly been to see how, as the first partners in Greece, we have been able to work with Jeff's entire team to consolidate the brand in the country. From the beginning, people approached us asking about Mr. Jeff and we always tried to talk about our experience, how it worked, the potential and future of the chain in the country. We started to see new contracts being signed and the brand expanding in Greece. For me it is very satisfying, because we were helping and being part of Mr. Jeff's growth in our country, and I think that's very important.
And that concludes our interview with Nikos Arvanitis, who was our first Mr Jeff partner in Greece. We hope you enjoyed learning about his story and his experience as a Jeff franchisee.
Are you thinking about opening a franchise and feel that Mr Jeff could be an exciting option for you? Let’s talk.