Dream Doors launches US expansion

Back in 2014, Dream Doors founder Derek Lilly was part of a small delegation from New Zealand which attended the annual convention of the International Franchise Association in New Orleans. Four years later, he’s just appointed the first state master franchisee (for California) in a $2 million investment and is currently in the USA helping to bed down the company’s carefully-planned support and supply structure.

‘What I learned from attending that first convention was that you need to build up a certain level of knowledge before you can even begin to know what you don’t know,’ says Derek. The US is a minefield when it comes to legal and compliance issues so you have to take it slowly, do your research and build up a network of trusted local advisors. We’ve taken four years from starting the process to appointing our first master.’

Those four years involved a lot of preparation. ‘You can’t just take a franchise system from New Zealand, plonk it straight down in another country and expect it to work,’ says Derek. ‘We even changed the name for the US, from Dream Doors to Amazing Kitchen Facelifts. It explains what we do, so to preserve brand consistency, we’ve added it as a tag line for the brand in New Zealand and Australia.’

Derek’s also been busy making contacts and has now appointed a franchise advisory panel to help the company come to grips with the massive US market. It features some impressive names: Chairman Anthony Vidergauz is the former CEO of the very successful California Closets franchise; Robb King is former COO of Paul Davis, the nationwide restoration franchise; while Edward Leaman is a brand-building expert and teacher at Stanford University who has worked with everyone from GAP to The Body Shop. Newly-appointed CSO Dan Bish has over 30 years’ experience in franchising while Joe Kurland brings another 25 years of knowledge from working with international service franchises such as Alphagraphics and Berlitz.

With this level of research and expertise behind him, Derek is confident that Dream Doors’ Amazing Kitchen Facelifts franchise has a bright future in the USA. ‘Our California master franchisees, Len Brenner and Anthony Bortz, have got off to a good start and our recent stand at the Franchise West expo in San Diego attracted a lot of attention. The market is wide open so we’re looking to help franchisees establish a first-class network across the USA.’