Poultry franchise Lenard’s will undergo a massive change, with founder Lenard Poulter taking back full ownership of the chain and bringing a new vision.

The brand, which encompasses over 200 stores across Australia, will now allow new or current franchisees to join into a ‘Hub and Spoke’ approach.

Instead of buying an outlet, this new approach will allow franchisees to invest in a particular territory and create a ‘Hub’ store, which will serve as a small manufacturer of supplies and pre-packaged products, or a ‘Spoke’ store, also known as a Ready to Go store.

The Hub store will deliver goods to the local Spoke stores, in effect creating a small-scale supply chain.

Lenard has already set up four Ready to Go stores across Brisbane, and a franchisee in Townsville as opened the first Ready to Go store outside Brisbane at Fairfield Central.

The idea sprung from lessons learned from the chain’s ‘Rotisserie’ concept stores, which offered a small selection of ready to go meals which were sold alongside fresh food.

“The Rotisseries concept has proved very valuable,” Poulter said.

“It allowed us to gain valuable insights and feedback from customers. The frozen products in our Ready to Go stores have also been a win-win as they introduced more flexibility into the business as well as being very popular with customers.

“We now plan to put more focus on oven-ready meals, to build this new business concept nationally and enhance it with home delivery in the near future.”