Christine cooks up an oven cleaning business

Apr 7 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

AFORMER school secretary and driving instructor is aiming to clean up with her latest enterprise.

Christine Peel has taken on the Northumberland franchise for oven valeting company Ovenu.

Based in Kirkwhelpington, she covers the county from Alnwick in the north, east to the coast, west to Hexham and south to Ponteland and Darras Hall.

Christine, who moved from South Tyneside with her partner and their 11-year-old daughter two years ago, was looking to run her own business after completing work renovating the family’s new home. She had been self-employed as a driving instructor and had enjoyed being her own boss.

“By having a franchise, I thought success was more likely. I researched all the franchises that were out there on the British Franchise Association website and I went for Ovenu because there is no pressure on you to meet targets and it addresses the work-life balance,” she said.

“It seems to be a very forward thinking business. The website is brilliant: with Ovenu, you can actually see the mini website of the franchisee that will be looking after you. It’s very much user-friendly.”

The oven valeting service takes around three hours and involves dismantling the key parts of the oven, microwave or barbeque, and cleaning them with specialist equipment. Ovenu, which has been operating in the UK since 1994, boasts that the process leaves the oven looking like new.

Christine is only the second female Ovenu franchisee – something she says is quite “scary” – and spent a day with an established operator to see whether she was physically capable of the work before deciding to take on the franchise.

She said: “It’s getting easier, it’s quite hard work and you need to build up a bit of stamina. Oven cleaning is not easy, which is why people don’t like doing it, but the products make it easier.”

The system uses environmentally- friendly gels and solutions to clean the oven, with the dismantled parts being cleaned in a heated tank.

There are more than 100 Ovenu franchises in Britain and the business has cleaned more than one million ovens since it was set up. The idea has also spread to Europe, Australia and the US.

Christine said she had received a number of contacts via the website and the business is marketed heavily at national level with adverts in glossy lifestyle magazines. She is now aiming to build up the Northumberland franchise gradually through word of mouth.