FRANCHISING
Want to have a Big Fig of your own?
Big Fig is fast food for people who love good food and this is your opportunity to join the family and be part of one of the country’s newest, and most delicious franchises.
You can find out more below or if you’d like to have a chat - leave your details and we’ll give you a call (or even better, if you’re in Wanaka let’s have a coffee!)
About Big Fig
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Two sisters (Shaz and Chrissie Lahood) started Big Fig Wanaka in 2016. We grew up in a food-obsessed Kiwi family of ten kids and named the café for the fig tree that grew in our Taranaki backyard. The food is inspired by our Lebanese heritage.
Today, three sisters and one ‘honorary’ sister run the Big Fig business and we can’t wait to have more of you in our Big Fig family!
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Good ideas come from limitations. In our case, it was the size of the tiny prep kitchen in our lakefront café.
Being more like a home kitchen, it gave us the idea that we could produce family-style food - just like we grew up with.
Big Fig would be about thoughtful, seasonal, delicious, healthy, ‘modern Middle Eastern’ food.
And the twist? We’d serve it up with all the convenience of a fast-food cafe. ‘Slow food, served fast’ was born.
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Within six months of opening, Big Fig Wanaka was a hit with locals, #1 on Trip Advisor, and had made thousands of raving fans out of Wanaka’s many holidaymakers.
In 2021, we won the Fast Eats category at the inaugural Wanaka Locals Choice Awards and today we have over 1200 Google reviews, the large majority of them with glowing 5 stars.
Our business model
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We built Big Fig on the principle that everyone should be able to afford to eat well and our food is the whole package – tasty, healthy and priced to include everyone, from students to hungry tradies, retired couples, families and everyone in between.
Best of all, our customers can choose between three plate sizes so they’re only paying for the food they want and need.
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Our diners choose a small, medium or big plate and tell the servers what they‘d like from a range of hot slow-cooked meats, tasty braises, pilafs, tagines and delicious salads.
There’s an open bakery creating delicious treats right in front of customers.
The eatery is fully licensed and open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
As well as sit-down dining, around 50% of our business is takeaway.
It’s also a thriving catering business serving an area of 40km around the store.
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At the heart of Big Fig are our values: family, keeping the planet in mind, and cooking with soul.
This is what it means in the real world:
We treat everyone (staff, customers, our community) like family.
We’re committed to helping shift our industry away from its throwaway culture. We’re 100% single-use cup-free, we have no plastic in our takeaways, we offer a $1 discount for BYO takeaway containers and much more.
We will have good food at our heart. Food that is nourishment, comfort, history, fuel and always delicious.
Before you buy a franchise
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We’re looking for like-minded, energetic and motivated people with integrity and high standards.
You’ll be interested in owning and growing a business, you love the sector and want to invest in a franchise that provides great support.
You’ll be running the business yourself full-time and hands-on, or you’il have a trusted, experienced high-level manager running the business for you.
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You (or your full-time manager) will have at least three years’ experience in hospitality or at management level in other relevant businesses. You’ll have integrity and high standards and experience in several of these areas:
∙ A proven track record in business leadership.
∙ Working with systems.
∙ Good networks and strong ties to the community.
∙ Solid computer skills and IT literacy.
∙ Customer service
∙ Sales and marketing
∙ Excellent communication and great interpersonal skills.
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We’d love to see Figs in all the major cities and towns that have a good mix of locals and holidaymakers.
As a new franchise, most of New Zealand is greenfields territory, so we’d like to hear from interested people in all parts of the country, particularly in Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch.
What we’re looking for
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∙ It’s a tried and true concept that works.
∙ You’ll get a professional, robust franchise model; a blueprint for success.
∙ ‘Slow food, served fast’ is a winning concept and Big Fig is an ethical, sustainable business anyone can feel proud to own.
∙ You’ll own your own business, but have a support team behind you.
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The best way to decide if you’re a good candidate for a franchise is to do the NZ Franchise Association’s Franchisee Pre-entry Online Education Programme. The course is free and it’ll help you to better understand franchising and what to expect as a franchisee. You’ll find the course here at https://franchiseassociation.org.nz/online-course/.
Franchising is a big decision and you should involve your professional advisors (lawyers, accountants, bank manager) about the opportunity so you’re better equipped to make an informed decision.
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Working with the experts at Franchize Consultants NZ over the last two years, we’ve set up a robust franchise system to help you bring Big Fig to life in your community.
You’ll get support and advice with everything from fitout, sourcing and supplies, in-person training, technology, HR, business planning, operational support, field visits and marketing.
You’ll be supported by a team of people who know the Big Fig business inside out and have 120 years’ combined experience in hospitality, advertising, event management and accountancy.
We’ll work closely with you and be focussed on your success year-round.
Steps to opening
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Each Big Fig builds on the reputations of the others. That’s why it’s so important to have the right people as franchisees.
Owning your own Big Fig can take anywhere from 6-18 months. It’s a solid and thorough process for a reason – it ensures we’re both sure about what we’re doing and can pull out any time.
You’ll need to be financially stable and have at least 50% equity/unencumbered ingoing capital.
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∙ First step is the Expression of Interest (EOI) – you tell us a little more about yourself and why you’re keen to own a Big Fig.
∙ We’ll review your EOI and set up a phone chat so we can find out a little more about each other.
∙ In the meantime, we’ll get you to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), we’ll then be able to share more information with you including a Franchise Overview.
∙ If we both feel like we're a good fit, we’ll send you an Application & Background Statement to complete.
∙ We’ll evaluate your Application including due diligence credit checks, criminal record checks and referee checks and if we decide to proceed, we’ll get in touch.
∙ We have a face-to-face discovery meeting and interview in Wanaka and you’ll have a tour of Big Fig Wanaka.
∙ We send you the Disclosure Document and draft Franchise Agreement.
∙ You do your own due diligence, including getting independent advice from your lawyer and accountant.
∙ If there are no concerns, we both sign the Franchise Agreement and the initial franchise premium and training fees are paid.
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∙ Pre-commencement activity starts with you looking for a site.
∙ You’ll also get the franchisee and ops manuals and start getting up to speed on the system.
∙ Your Big Fig opens with Big Fig HQ supporting you through the process.
The money stuff
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For new franchisees, total investment levels vary depending on location, size and whether the Franchisee has existing premises and/or a fitout. In general, the range is between $150,000 to $450,000 which includes the franchise premium.
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We’ll share that with you once you’ve signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement which we can send you early in the process
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We can’t guarantee levels of profitability a Franchisee can expect, but we can share some of the financial information from our Big Fig Wanaka franchise as an example.
