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FRANCHISING FROM PAGE 59 “We saw an early threat when we went to the national lockdown in April, with a 40 to 50 per cent decline in fuel right across the industry,” he said. “After the national lockdown, we had the Victoria lockdown and we’ve continued to have selective capital city lockdowns. What that does each time is reduce the demand for fuel because people just aren't travelling.” As soon as the fuel threat emerged, ACAPMA realised its members needed to know how to deal with the risk that, sooner or later, their area may be locked down for three or four weeks. “They needed to develop resilience and understand how they’ll survive that period, particularly if it becomes a very severe lockdown,” Mr McKenzie said. “That means understanding what the restrictions are and what the government has decided about who’s closed, who’s open and what you can or can’t sell. “There's a whole lot of information that has to flow out, and one of the things ACAPMA has done over the last 12 months is make that flow our day-to-day business. We’ve connected and hardwired ourselves into every government around the country and now, as soon as those things are announced, we get it out all to our members with the regular Covid update. “As an industry body we've changed our model, so now it’s all about providing knowledge, particularly during those lockdowns, so people can make informed decisions as quickly as possible. “That knowledge is focused on helping our members build capability in the three elements of resilience, agility and quality of offering. “As part of building resilience, we started advocating on financial relief and were heavily involved in the design of JobKeeper under the Council for Small Business Organisations Australia, partnering with groups like the Pharmacy Guild and the National Association of Retail Grocers of Australia to work through what sort of support was needed. “There were times in the early part of the process where I was working directly with business owners and their bankers so they fully understood what was being put on the table, and what sort of access they had to those support services.” Recovery Mr McKenzie continued: “What we've seen since the initial decline is a recovery, although it’s been recovering at different rates depending on where the servo is and what type of business model they have.” A servo’s business model is key to being able to adapt, and businesses that are part of a franchise network or buying group are often able to access support, enabling them to react quickly when it’s needed. In the early stages of Covid, some servos were very quick to diversify, with such developments as offering convenience products online, particularly during lockdowns, and delivering them using Uber Eats or other similar business partner. “There were a lot of servos selling large amounts of toilet paper, which we all know is one of the key symbols of Covid in Australia,” Mr McKenzie said. “However, to perform in that manner requires the capacity to be able to move quickly to an omnichannel approach, and there's been a number of servos that moved very quickly indeed. “The other thing we’ve seen that’s proving to be really important is quality. Those servos that had a quality fresh food offering, such as barista style coffee or good bakery style products, either baked on the premises or brought in through a contract, have done really well. “\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\[When it comes to a servo’s food offering\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] the image that people have – of a stale sausage roll that’s been sitting there for six months – is a thing of the past. “Recently, everyone started adjusting to a post-Covid environment and we had a lot of people choosing to continue working from home. While they aren’t doing the commute that they used to be doing, the drop in fuel sales hasn't been as destructive as we might first have thought. “We’re all social animals, so, while people aren't necessarily doing the commute, when they're working from home they’re still going out and getting stationery, they might be buying lunch, or they might be going out to a coffee shop. What we've seen is the beneficiaries of this change have largely been the suburban servos. “What’s happening is we’re getting a lift in non-fuel sales with a lot of people going to the servo and buying food, coffee and muffins at a rate that we wouldn’t normally see because they were typically in the CBD buying food in the city cafes. “What happened through Covid has been a very positive change. Servos were quick to diversify, and improved the quality of their offering, which led to people rediscovering their service station as a local store.” The wind in your sales To learn more about franchising and the levels of support available to franchised stores, Convenience World spoke to 7-Eleven Australia General Manager Retail Operations Braeden Lord. “The impacts of Covid-19 have shown more than ever the importance of having a strong and supportive franchisor sitting behind a franchisee, allowing them to get on with running their business in the knowledge their franchisor is navigating the fast- changing business landscape with them,” he said. That level of support was evident in the speed and thoroughness of 7-Eleven’s initial response when Covid first hit, and it’s support that continues today, much of it offered face to face in the franchisee’s store. “We quickly established a Covid-19 response team, drawing representatives from all parts of the business, including safety and retail operations. “Meeting daily, or more as needed, the team reviewed the latest government information, adapted existing processes, created new processes, rolled out and funded new safety equipment and, importantly, provided vital information updates to our franchisees across the country. “We also had our team in the field supporting stores to adapt to the new environment," he said. Having initially adapted to ensure the safety of their customers, employees and franchisees, the 7-Eleven team turned their focus to their franchisees, making sure they knew the business was behind them throughout whatever it was that lay ahead. “One of the benefits of our model is we were actually there, supporting franchisees from a business perspective as we navigated the impacts of lockdowns, travel restrictions and fluctuating customer traffic together,” Mr Lord said. “Later, as restrictions and lockdowns 60 CONVENIENCE WORLD MAR/APR, 2021