Kate Shuttleworth - Director & Franchisor

From a small domestic agency operating only in Cape Town, Marvellous ****s now has over 35 Franchise areas across 4 provinces with plans to expand our brand across the country. It has been a 27-year journey, stumbling, tripping, and falling along the way, but learning from every mistake.

This business is not for everyone; it requires the diplomacy of an ambassador, the patience of a saint with the thickest of skins and the broadest of shoulders.

Many have tried to emulate us and too often, when they failed, they wrote a nasty review on Hello Peter. We have certainly failed our clients on occasion and have often not responded adequately.

For that, I apologise now and offer anyone who has had a bad experience with Marvellous ****s a complimentary service. Please give us the opportunity to show you how we have developed – and get your house cleaned at the same time!

All new franchisees are given 3 full days of training at our Academy in the Elgin Valley where we share our experiences over the past 27 years and try to inculcate the ethos of Marvellous ****s. We share with them how we motivate our workers, the critical importance of not only checking, but investigating references and in certain instances investigating the referees. They get access to our fulsome body of intellectual property, built up since inception, our housekeeping manuals, laundry manuals, our office manuals, contracts for domestic workers, nannies, cooks, drivers, and au pairs – and sometimes a combination of all of those. We suggest, from our war chest of recollections how to juggle people and public holidays, and how to ensure and encourage HARP (Honesty, Attitude, Reliability and Punctuality).

We do not sugar coat the difficulties of running a Marvellous ****s branch; the perennial problems of cash flow, the unpredictability of taxi strikes, the vagaries of the traffic and the ever-rising cost of fuel and living. We walk the precarious tightrope of staying affordable whilst maintaining profitability. Ai! Just reading this makes me wonder why, at the age of (almost) 70 I am still doing this? Why am I and so many of our franchisees addicted to Marvellous ****s? Is it the high when you have found employment for someone or is it the appreciation of so many of our clients? Perhaps the adrenalin rush when another franchise is sold? Yay, more jobs for people in Rustenburg and Emalahleni.

And if we are not yet in your area, hold on to your hat! We plan to be there Soon.

Kate Shuttleworth - Director & Franchisor