Franchising Has Been a Launchpad for Us: Kunal Sethi, CEO of The Detailing Mafia

In an exclusive interaction with StartupTalky, Mr. Kunal Sethi, CEO of The Detailing Mafia, provides an inside look at how his company has transformed the high-end car detailing industry. With a network of over 180 studios across India, Sethi discusses the advantages of their franchise model, the comprehensive support and training for franchisees, and strategies for maintaining quality. He also shares insights into the challenges faced and the future growth plans for this innovative brand in the car care market.

StartupTalky: What does The Detailing Mafia do, and what are the main services offered?

Mr. Sethi: The Detailing Mafia is a high-end car cleaning and detailing studio. Over a short period of time in the industry, our brand showcases a portfolio of 180+ studios across India, providing services with unmatched quality, reliability, and durability and giving attention to detailing. We offer several services in the detailing process, including PPF, Ceramic coating, glass films, ceramic wash, maintenance wash, car denting/painting, windshield protection field, and bike detailing.

StartupTalky: Why did you choose the franchise business model? How has it contributed to your company's growth and success?

Mr. Sethi: Franchising the brand was always on our horizon. When we started the concept of premium car detailing, it was unique, hard to find, and premium, and we had people ready to collaborate with us from the very beginning. We started receiving franchise inquiries on day zero. Still, we took time to develop our structure, know-how, and USPs and launched ourselves in the franchising space in 2019 with a solid foundation and infrastructure to back our claims.

Franchising has been a Launchpad for us, enabling us to fast-track our vision of positively disrupting the car care market. We are making quality international services accessible to Indian car lovers and are on our way to becoming an indigenous brand operating abroad. This journey has allowed us to convert our love and passion for vehicles into a successful business, where like-minded individuals can join us in creating state-of-the-art vehicles, meeting consumer demands, and contributing to the community through job creation and capital generation.

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StartupTalky: What is the process to become a franchise with The Detailing Mafia? What are the main requirements?

Mr. Sethi: Our franchise requirements are straightforward, and to make it simpler for everyone, we have divided our franchise process into three different categories. In all these three categories, a few things are the same, which include space requirement, height requirement, project investment, etc.; the detailed process is provided below:

StartupTalky: What support and training do you provide to your franchisees?

Mr. Sethi: Our dedicated team helps our franchisee partners provide training and support. They help to empower our extended family with biannual soft skills updates conducted conveniently to drive continual growth. Currently, we provide support and training to the franchisee partners in 3 phases:

Phase 1:

Market Identification and Conceptualizing: 

• Real Estate: We help our franchisees identify the right market for their business, search for real estate for their operations (if required), negotiate on their behalf for rentals and finances, and finalize their site.
• Architecture: We then provide architecture support to conceptualization and consultation to create a studio as per the Detailing Mafia's Standards.

Phase 2:

Setting the foundation:

• Learning & Development: Here we help the franchisees in sourcing, training, and handling the right manpower on-site in the comfort of their own business habitat.
• Owner Coach & Counsel: We also provide our partners with both operational and soft skill training to prepare them for further business & capital generation.
• Launch Marketing: We provide them with initial creative and marketing support to establish them in their market.

Phase 3:

Sustenance:

• Research & Development: We provide the franchisees with research and development support, updating and delivering them with upgrades to keep them ahead in the ever-growing world of detailing.
• Training and Quality Control: We keep conducting training for our partners at regular intervals of time to keep them hands-on and control the quality of the service to the end customers.
• Maintenance: We provide periodic maintenance support of the equipment to our franchise for better operating capability.
• Store Chain Management: We provide our partners with Store Chain Management services, helping them get raw materials in a short duration anywhere in India.
• Marketing: We also provide a robust ecosystem of marketing support to our franchisee with services including (and not limited to):
  • Content Writing
  • Creative Designing
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Social Media Optimization
  • Influencer Collaboration 
  • ATL Activities
  • BTL Activities

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StartupTalky: How do you maintain consistent quality and service across all franchise locations?

Mr. Sethi: We understand the importance of consistent service across all franchise locations. We achieve this through standardized processes, high-quality product selection, and ongoing quality assurance checks. Additionally, we foster a collaborative environment where even franchisees can share best practices.

StartupTalky: What marketing strategies do you use to promote your franchise brand?

Mr. Sethi: We generally promote our franchise brand through several initiatives, such as lead generation, social media campaigns, and ATL/BTL advertising, which help us capture the right target market and build a strong recall value among our target audience.

StartupTalky: What makes The Detailing Mafia a profitable franchise business, and how do you help franchisees achieve profitability?

Mr. Sethi: The car detailing industry is booming in India, and The Detailing Mafia offers a proven business model with a strong brand reputation. We equip franchisees with the tools and support them to succeed with the help of training, inventory management guidance, and profitability optimization strategies. This inclusive approach ensures that our business is profitable and a promising venture for our franchisees.

StartupTalky: What are some of the challenges you face while running your franchise business, and how do you handle them?

Mr. Sethi: Like every business, we also face a few challenges while running the franchise model; however, we have proactively addressed these challenges by staying ahead of the competition, adapting to changing market conditions, improving our services and processes, and maintaining open communication for all our franchise partners to identify any emerging challenges collaboratively.

StartupTalky: What are your future plans for the growth and expansion of The Detailing Mafia franchise?

Mr. Sethi: We are committed to expanding our reach and retaining our position as India's leading car detailing brand. In the process, we also strive to organize the car detailing industry. Our dedication to growth and expansion is a testament to our confidence in the franchise model and our continued support for our franchisees' entrepreneurial dreams.

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