Ochado

                                                         Ochado Genting Klang PV12

Feedback

There are much of the guidelines that cannot be answered by the franchise, they say most of the question are not appropriate to be answer in public and the supervisor are afraid that this may cause a lot of trouble for themselves. Or maybe they are just too lazy to entertainment me. Who knows?

So I have to take the own initiative to look up for their information on the web. And guess what? Ochado doesn't even have a website of their own. I was like "what is happening?" and then I realized that my assignment are really on trouble. The franchise store are unwilling to give any information about the franchisor and there are no website for themselves.

So, I took the trouble from getting my informations at some of the blogs that other people created. For referencing on how bubble tea franchise works. This is a very difficult task to do. And it is not very accurate sometimes.

Customer Feedback

As the day I went for the short interview, I approach come of the customers and interview about their opinion on "Ochado". Then I realized that some of the teenagers in the shop weren't drinking anything among the group. So I approached them first.

Those who are not drinking.

A : "I think it is quite costly. I'm here because I followed some of my friends here for discussion for assignments. RM6 I can get a meal with it so I think it is not worth it to buy a cup of water with RM6."


B : "No comment, depends on my mood."


Those who are drinking.

A : "I think it's quite acceptable for a cup of bubble tea for the price of RM6. Starbucks costs even more. So I think it is okay to spend a little here sometime."


B : "Why not? I love Ochado. haha"


So in my opinion, both of the group made and got their own points in bringing the perception of different people from different world come to a conclusion. To some people, RM6 could mean a meal to them while others may treat that RM6 is just a tiny bit of cash. So the market of this franchise differs from group of people as well.

Interview With The Supervisor

A few days back, I went to "Ochado" located at Genting Klang PV12 for an interview. To my disappointment, the manager wasn't around. The only person-in-charge was only the supervisor for the specific branch. I asked for the owner or the manager for the branch and the girl at the counter just replied "they won't be around for quite some time". I wasn't sure what she was saying was the truth or they were just keeping themselves out of trouble. But nevermind, Then I before proceeding to interviewing, I bought myself a cup a "Ochado Pearl Milk Tea" to get our conversations started.

            My personal favourite cup of tea from Ochado. The "Ochado No.1 Pearl Milk Tea"

After buying, I tried to start my conversation with the cashier and I asked for the person-in-charge for the moment. Then, she pointed her finger toward a man who were just beside her playing his phone. And politely he asked if he could be at my service. Then, I explained that I was from TARC doing my assignment on franchise and I need to interview a few questions. Then he nodded his head. I asked him what was his position in the branch and he replied "I'm just the supervisor, what question is there that you need to ask?"

Then I proceed with some of my questions :-

• How much does your franchise gross per year? Or how much does it net?
• "I'm so sorry that this is a very private question and I'm sorry that I could not answer you. I'm afraid that if I were to answer you, and this informations were leaked to my boss, I would get pretty messed up."

• Does the franchiser give you enough assistance in operating your business?
• "Yes, they do provide training for new workers here. But the rest of it. It's all about ourselves, franchiser only provides training and some location justification before our business starts. And yes, they do train the new workers."

• How many hours , on average, do you work a week?
• "Some, works for the whole day it is open and some works only part time. So, it really depends on the specific worker. But our shop opens daily from 10am to 10pm. So, it's a 12 hours job and usually our workers works half of the day in the morning and another different batch works half day in the evening."

• How often do you get vacation?
• "Urm, each of the worker are entitled to take a day off once a week and it not encouraged to take the day off during the weekends because it is our peak time of our sales and we need more staffs to cater to the customers. But the bad news is that we even have to work during some of the public holidays. Well, this is what the F&B life is, where there are holidays, that is the time where our sales reaches peak."

• Does your franchisor provide on going training and support to you?
• "Yes, as I just answered, they provide us with the training. New workers gets their 1month training and support? We're all on our own other than the training.

• If you had to do it all over again, would you purchase a franchise in this system? Why?
• "Yes, if it were me, yes, if it were here in the same place. This is because the students now are more willing to spend on their entertainment fees. Unlike the time when I was studying. Yes, so it's a yes."

This is the short interview that will be listed here in the blog. There are some more questions that I did asked but a lot of them were turned down due to the privacy that the boss or the owner of the franchise requested. There were more questions that I've asked that I cannot be posting here and this is with all due respect with the request from the supervisor.

The rest of them do not want to be on the screens for "God-Knows-Why" reasons. So I asked one of them to help me take the picture.

Information About Applying The Franchise

How To Start?

• Enquiry and Application
• Location Finding & Evaluation
• Signing Agreement
• Renovation 
• Training

What Franchisees Need To Invest In?

• Equipment
• Furniture
• Expenditure
• Signage
• Decorations
• Real Estate Acquisition Cost
• Rental

What The Franchisers Offer

• Training & Support Programme

Start-Up Cost

• The start-up cost would cost about RM250,000 to RM500,000 in total depending on the size of the shop lot and the total renovation. The bigger the shop is, the higher the cost would be, More furnitures, decorations, renovations etc.

Franchise International Malaysia 2012

On the 6th of July, we went to attend the franchise exhibition at Putra World Trade Centre(PWTC). This is an exhibition about some of the famous franchise around Malaysia. We are required to dress smartly and act like we were one of the potential customer for the franchise out there in the exhibition. Yes, when I went in alone, people from all over the franchise did approach me with a good manner as if I was their customer. But too bad, we were required to take a admission card and to register and the previous lower floor. Rejecting those who are approaching me, I walked away and headed downstairs for the registration. But when the second time I went in to the exhibition hall, this time with a lot more of my classmates and carrying a backpack, the franchiser's worker that were approaching me held back and did not even take a glance at me. Looking like a student with a bag now and the name tag with the word "student". Somehow I felt quite offended of what happened and I decided to walk away without taking a look behind. But mind that, that's not the main point. I took a look around and starts looking for franchise that I am interested in for my assignment. But to my surprise, a lot of other students were interviewing and some of them were ignored straight to the face. Of course I was unhappy and I decided to stop asking things and just take a look around. I was hoping that the franchise that I wanted to do "Ochado" was around. But too bad, it wasn't around and I left home early.

What have I learnt today is that most of the businessman, promoter does look down on people and they wouldn't care entertaining you if you are not of benefit to them. And so I headed home with disappointment with the result that I franchise that I wanted was not here and the attitude the rest of the promoter were showing.

Ochado The BubbleTea From Singapore

The franchise outlet that I had chosen for my assignment is "Ochado" which is located Genting Klang. Started since 19 March 2010 in Singapore, Ochado brought in new drinks with Japanese concept which is the japanese brewing skill to attract the attention of consumers. Ochado is originated from two words which is OCHA & CHADO. The meaning of OCHA is tea in japanese where as the meaning of CHADO is origin or culture in japanese. Ochado is not taiwan bubble tea but is a japanese tea that taste differently which is focusing on healthy idea with no sugar level selection.