GILBERT LEDUC
Le Soleil
“People tell us we’re the next McDonald’s. Wow!”
With Julie Bergevin, Gaétan Migneault is the owner of Groupe Adèle, which oversees a network of 124 residential cleaning franchises in Quebec.
“We are currently opening between one and three new franchises per month,” notes Mr. Migneault, adding that he receives between 20 and 50 applications each month from candidates eager to become franchisees. “In the long run, in Quebec, we would like to have a network of 200 to 250 franchisees.”
Groupe Adèle employs between 300 and 400 cleaning men and women in addition to its hundred-plus franchisees. “With the 30% to 40% growth we’ve seen in recent years, we can eventually expect to generate 2,000 jobs,” says the businessman, who sold his first franchise in 2002.
The company’s reputation has spread beyond Quebec’s borders. Groupe Adèle now has two franchises operating in Ontario and hopes to have around fifteen launched by the end of the year. And it’s only a matter of time before it starts scrubbing floors in France. In fact, last spring, at the Franchise Expo Paris trade show, Groupe Adèle won the Business Award Franchise, one of the most prestigious awards in the French franchise industry. In 2007 and 2009, the company had already been recognized by the Conseil québécois de la franchise.
Upon returning from France, to their great delight, the leaders of Groupe Adèle learned that the company had been nominated by the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec for the Mercuriades, in the Large Business – Market Development category, alongside Rio Tinto and Vision Globale.
Just like McDonald’s…
Groupe Adèle was founded in Quebec City. At first, Gaétan Migneault dreamed of creating a company that would hire an army of employees to perform residential cleaning. As he refined his project, he realized that his business model would not be sustainable. To manage the army of cleaners, he would need a regiment of supervisors. Too heavy. Too complicated.
That’s when the idea of creating a franchise network appeared. “Why not create small businesses that will be close to the clients and committed to service quality,” adds Julie Bergevin.
If Groupe Adèle’s business model is often compared to that of McDonald’s, it’s because of the standardization of its processes. “All our work methods have been normalized, structured, and standardized so that there is no difference between a cleaning done in Quebec City or in Paris,” explains Ms. Bergevin. Just like the Big Mac in Tokyo that tastes exactly like the one at the McDonald’s on Saint-Jean Street.
Everything has been thought out down to the smallest detail: the formulation of cleaning products and their use on different surfaces, the work methods, the cleaning equipment, and even the length of vacuum cords to avoid having to plug and unplug the machine 25 times.
“We’ve reached a very high level of efficiency,” says Gaétan Migneault. “We’re able to make a residence clean and keep it clean longer than anyone else.”
Turnkey franchise
Groupe Adèle also claims to stand out for the continuous support it offers its franchisees, most of whom have no prior business experience.
“We sell a turnkey franchise,” says Julie Bergevin. “We take care of the launch, the incorporation. We assess the working capital they will need. We teach them how to recruit clients. An accounting firm takes them on. All they have to do is focus on their operations. The new franchisee has weekly contacts and monthly meetings with the network support director to ensure everything is going well.”
Royalties
Franchisees do not pay fixed monthly fees to the franchisor, but rather royalties based on a percentage of their sales. “That allows us to build a real partnership. For the franchisee to succeed, he relies on me. And I, the franchisor, rely on him,” summarizes Mr. Migneault.
For its expansion outside Quebec, Adèle relies on “master franchisees” who will sell franchises, train franchisees, and provide the necessary support. In France, for example, Adèle plans to build a network of about fifteen master franchisees, each of whom will be able to sell between 50 and 70 franchises.