Lisa Tobias started working for Domino’s Pizza while still at school. Now she runs four franchises in the west of Scotland with a turnover of £2m and employs 120 people.

After dropping out of university at 19, she joined the company full-time to manage one of its shops before deciding to go for a franchise of her own.

“University wasn’t for me but my parents were disappointed when I dropped out, so I thought I’d better prove that I could do something worthwhile,” she said.

But while Tobias wanted to run her own business, she is adamant that she wouldn’t have taken the risk without the backup of a franchise such as Domino’s.

“If I’d gone to the bank with an idea for a pizza delivery shop, I am sure it would have been difficult to raise funding,” said the 27-year-old.

“Domino’s gives you support and the bank knows the company, which increases your chance of success.”

Despite troubled economic times, Tobias is planning to open more stores. Domino’s is now Britain’s biggest pizza home delivery chain and recorded a like-for-like sales increase of 10% last year. Profit forecasts for the chain, which operates the UK and Ireland franchise of the global brand, currently range between £22.3m and £23.2m.

Domino’s, which is targeting the establishment of a network of 1,000 stores in the UK and Ireland, said it exceeded its target of opening 50 stores a year in 2008 and last week another of the most recognisable franchise brands, Subway, the sandwich chain, announced plans to create 7,000 jobs by opening 600 new stores.

Amid the economic doom and gloom, franchising seems to offer a glimpse of hope, but for many in the industry there is frustration at what they perceive to be a lack of recognition for its merits.

Franchising is still seen by some as a poor relation to those starting businesses completely on their own, even though with franchising, start-up costs may be lower and the risk of failure reduced.

With new research estimating that franchising’s value to Scotland’s economy is at least £800m a year, the industry is on a mission to change that perception.

“There is not enough being done by government to promote franchising as a way of starting your own business,” said Johnny Sellyn, the founder of whichfranchise.com and deputy chairman of the British Franchise Association’s Scottish group.

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