This November marks the 25th anniversary of the unique series of events that led to the formation of Greenleaf Contractors and our use and support of the low-pressure soft abrasive Farrow Cleaning System.
Farrow System Franchise
The original Farrow Systems Ltd was dissolved in 2010 and had, in reality, struggled since the collapse of the franchise organisation in the spring of 2002.
The origins of this arrangement began with the short-lived Farrow System franchise, which launched with a degree of hoopla in late 2000 with just two franchisees (plus the head office), but by mid 2001 had grown to perhaps 6 franchisees covering a good proportion of the country. There were franchisees in the South West, North West, London, North East and ourselves in Yorkshire all providing sand jetting services exclusively using the Farrow System.
The promise of the franchising system, a particularly popular approach in the late 1990s and early 2000s, was that any budding franchisee would get their own territory, own machines and could use the Farrow System brand.
The Collapse of the Franchise
It ultimately did not last very long. One issue was that it was unclear to what extent Farrow Systems was unique. In a Patent Court case reported by the BBC in 2013, the Ministry of Defence challenged the patents and said that the system had existed before. – As Mr Farrow had, in fact, bought the machines ‘ready made’ from a company down the road, this was rather the case!
By December 2001, the franchise system collapsed at an acrimonious franchise meeting in Portsmouth , but this collapse was in some respects a blessing in disguise, as it allowed the ex-franchisees to work closer together to provide support, training and networking.
Moving Foward
However, we continue to offer cleaning services but also support to ensure that companies relying on Farrow System machines have the spare parts they need, can source secondhand or new machines, and we can even help with completing contracts to ensure that the customer is satisfied.
While many of the originating events took place over two decades ago, the machines, the connections and the principles mean that we not only offer the same services but have stepped up to support the sector.
