Franchisees Louise & Paul Wheeler have enjoyed long-term success with in-toto Kitchens, quickly growing their first franchise and building their business with a further two franchise investments with the largest kitchen franchise company in the UK.

The successful husband and wife team opened their first kitchen showroom in Ealing in 2006 and enjoyed immense success, achieving the highest sales of all the in-toto stores across the UK within its first year. 

Louise Wheeler says, “We decided very quickly that we wanted to open more stores, following the success of our Ealing showroom.  Despite the recession, we opened two stores and business just got better and better.”  After seizing the opportunity in 2008 to take over an existing franchise located in nearby Teddington, the Wheelers have now gone even further and recently opened their third store in Guildford, near to where the couple live.

Paul and Louise were attracted to the in-toto franchise after both working in retail and wanting to have the freedom of running their own business together.  Paul had previously project managed and installed a number of kitchens and he took this further by researching the in-toto franchise by looking at business plans and visiting other in-toto studios. 

Louise is very thankful for the support they received from other franchisees, saying “Before we even began our business, the other studios advised us on how to handle cash-flow, manage suppliers and organise timelines.   The in-toto franchise network is very welcoming and not at all competitive – we love sharing ideas between stores.  The whole in-toto team has been very supportive with making the studio look great and getting the business plan right.” 

Paul, who strongly believes that home improvement trends are the key to his success, says: “Today’s housing market trend to improve and not move has definitely been our lifeline.  Installing or updating a new kitchen is an intelligent way to modernise and add value to a property when it comes to selling.”

Their commitment to in-toto Kitchens is a testament to the success it can bring to franchisees.  “Our businesses have given us a very good lifestyle”, says Louise, “and it is so rewarding to get customer feedback about how much they love their kitchens”.  The couple are set to expand even further in the future, with plans to become investment franchisees owning 5 or more studios.  “The management model for us in the future is to open more studios and have showroom managers and an installation team in each one”, says Louise.  “It’s a great franchise model for us – we have so much more flexibility now and with further expansion we can still be involved and keep in touch with our customers but we can also concentrate on running the business”.