Food Delivery Operator Taps Into Junk Hauling Franchise Opportunity In Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Q&A about the junk hauling franchise opportunity with College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving franchise owner Alex Biggam
Some might call Alex Biggam a serial entrepreneur, the kind of guy who is always looking for the next great business success. Alex had already created several successful businesses when he found his next winning formula in a College Hunks junk hauling franchise opportunity.
Biggam had just sold a very successful national business when he teamed up with the three partners in his other company, which delivers food for local restaurants, to launch a College Hunks location in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in August of 2016.
What were you doing before joining College Hunks?
I’m an entrepreneur and I owned two businesses. One is a local catering and food delivery service where we partner with about 40 restaurants and we do all of their deliveries for them. I still own that. Actually, the guys I run the College Hunks business with run that as well. I have three partners and we run both businesses. It has worked out well because we work out of the same office and there have been some synergies.
Both involve driving and delivering stuff for people…
Yup! We’re logistics experts!
What made you decide to add junk hauling to the mix in addition to your food delivery service?
Well, a couple of things. The other company that I owned was a bigger, nationwide business. We set up online ordering and apps for restaurants all over the United States. I worked really hard to build it up to where we had about 3,000 restaurants before I sold it to a competitor. At that point, I had more capital and more time so I was looking for other opportunities. I wanted to find something that matched with our expertise in the food delivery service we running. I thought that moving could work because we already know how to do the logistical side of it. We had a good customer base already, drivers, etc.
How did you find College Hunks?
Well, I started researching moving and junk hauling franchises. I had narrowed it down to a few and I really like College Hunks because I feel like the name and the brand really stand out. I think that’s key, because junk hauling is a crowded field around here, especially for moving. Then I went down to Tampa for Discovery Day, and that was that.
How did College Hunk’s corporate culture play into your decision making?
The culture fit in well. Like I said, I have three partners and we’re all young guys with lots of energy. They’re not afraid to knock on doors or dress up in the mascot uniform, whatever it takes. We know how to work hard and have some fun at the same time. So, the culture was an attraction for sure.
You mentioned that you already had drivers before joining College Hunks. How do they split their duties between junk hauling and food hauling?
We keep them separate. My partners manage both businesses and share office space, but we keep the drivers separate so we don’t confuse brands.
What are your long-term goals for the College Hunks business?
We are definitely open to the idea of having more locations. We want to be pretty aggressive with our growth. It’s kind of funny, because we were thinking that Madison, Wisconsin, would be our next logical step, but that’s already taken. But Milwaukee’s a big market and we bought two zones, so we should do fine with that.
What’s been the most valuable support you’ve received so from College Hunks?
I think the kickoff meeting went really well. We got to meet the founders, Nick and Omar, and found them to be very approachable. I like that they’re young guys like us. For the training side of it, we sent two of the partners down there for a week and they got a lot out of it. I feel like that was very valuable. It turned on the light in our heads about the need to buy into the system and the branding and what we have to do to stand out. They came back very excited. The pre-launch support went well, too. Now we’re in the wrap-up stage and our Franchise Coach, Laura Butcaris, has been great. She’s coming out to visit in a couple weeks.
How have you guys gone out to market in the community?
We just had the state fair here and we brought out the truck and had one of the guys in the costume dancing around and doing laps around the fair. So, they’re doing the marketing side, the trick waves and all that. We do want to get into community service, so that’s our next step.
How have your previous food delivery customers been responding to the new College Hunks business?
Great! We’ve gotten a lot of leads from that. We sent out email blasts and put a link on the food delivery website asking people to check out our sister company, College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving. It definitely helped because those people have been with us for over 10 years and they trust us and like the service.
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