Three Brothers Score with Kitchen Solvers Franchise

For Soren Peterson and his brothers Toby and Bret, the decision to go into business together came to a head in April 2014 when each of them found themselves at a crossroads and ready to start the next chapters in their careers. Soren’s interest in being a business owner had always been at the back of his mind, and after spending the bulk of his career working for the VA Hospital, he had reached a point where it was time to focus on how he could take business and passion and blend them together to create a better future for his family. “I just knew I needed to make a change and I’ve always had a strong passion for woodworking,” said Peterson.

“That’s when I started talking with my brothers about researching business opportunities, as they both have backgrounds in construction/engineering and electrical work.”Early on in the research process, the Peterson brothers came across an existing Kitchen Solvers business for sale in their home market of Salt Lake City. “To be honest, I would say we knew this was the right business for us from our very first conversation with the corporate team,” Peterson reflected.

“We were interested in franchising because we knew a business model and foundation would already be there, and none of us had enough experience to start from scratch from a business perspective; with the Kitchen Solvers team we immediately felt a sense of support like they would be there for us and make sure we were a winning team.”The Peterson brothers purchased and opened their Kitchen Solvers in February 2015, and here are a few other things Soren shared about their experience as they approach one year in business:1851: What provided you with the confidence to invest in the Kitchen Solvers brand?SP: The corporate team immediately provided a sense of comfort and we knew it was a well established brand, and just based on our previous experience, we knew it was a business we could operate.

But honestly, our biggest confidence boost came after we purchased the business. The phone started ringing for us right away. Consumers know the Kitchen Solvers name and they want to work with us.

As soon as the phone started ringing, we really knew we had made the right decision.1851: Tell us about the manpower required to run the business.SP: Right now it’s just the three of us.

Toby and Bret typically split up the responsibilities of installation and bookkeeping and I am mainly focused on sales and new customer acquisition. Demand keeps going up though, and our goal is to start building our team soon. The first position we’d likely hire for is a another installer to help alleviate some of that workload.

1851: People are generally familiar with the concept of a franchise fee, but talk about your all-in investment to get up and running.SP: The Kitchen Solvers franchise fee is $25,000 - but our all-in investment including capital and cash flow to hold us over while we were getting up and running has been about $150,000.1851: What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced thus far and how have you overcome them?

SP: Our biggest challenge I’d say was just promoting ourselves and building up our reputation so that people in Salt Lake City understand that we want to be there go-to for kitchen remodels and that we’ll be there to support them. I think we’ve overcome that just by being on the frontlines ourselves, getting to know our customers and making sure we communicate with the through the entire process, and then of course ensuring that our work is producing results that exceed our customer's expectations. Now that we’ve gotten through that initial phase of getting our name out there, I think the biggest challenge is keeping up with the demand.

As I mentioned, we’re going to need to expand the team to keep up with the work, which is definitely a good ‘challenge’ to have.1851: What are your future goals for Kitchen Solvers of Salt Lake City?SP: In terms of sales, our goals are pretty straightforward: we aim each month to exceed the sales from the previous month.

By our one year mark, I hope we’re able to hire our first employee for installation. And we have already talked with the corporate team about the fact that we want to grow this business, and if additional locations in this territory or adjoining territories become available, we’d like the first option to buy. Obviously, we want this location to be successful first, but then we absolutely want to grow.

Halfway to their first year in business, the Peterson brothers are confident in their ability to meet their goals this year, and feel good about that fateful decision to put their family name behind the Kitchen Solvers brand in Salt Lake City.