October 16, 2014 (Toronto, ON) – Velofix, the newest innovation in mobile pro bike repair that started in Vancouver in 2013, is excited to announce the opening of their first Ontario-based franchise in Toronto (North). Nick Di Cristofaro, who is obsessed with two-wheels and brings over 20 years of combined experience working in both the cycling and motorcycle industries, joins Velofix’s team of owner/operators that is expanding with franchises across Canada.
In 2013, Chris Guillemet and co-founders Davide Xausa and Boris Martin launched Velofix, a mobile bike-repair concept, introducing their first van in the form of a customized Mercedes Sprinter designed by Martin, a professional certified bike mechanic and former Canadian National track champion.
Velofix vehicles impress in terms of their interior layout and design while acting as mobile billboards. The bright red and black vans are now a common site in Western Canada with four vans roaming the streets of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland and one covering Victoria. Jumping from concept and a single van to five vans in just over a year is a pretty good indicator of success, and having Olympic gold medalist Simon Whitfield as your first franchisee doesn’t hurt either.
“We’re excited to launch Velofix Toronto with Nick Di Cristofaro and now provide the only full-service Mobile Bike Pro Shop in the city. We are confident it will be the first of a fleet of Velofix Mobile Bike Pro Shops in Eastern Canada,” commented Guillemet.
Di Cristofaro, an avid road racer with years of road, cyclocross and mountain racing experience, sees a bright future for the new Velofix Toronto franchise. “I am the first and currently only Velofix Mobile Pro Shop in the GTA and Ontario. We offer a convenient service where we come to the customer at their home or work to fix their bike in our fully equipped sprinter van. It is an experience like no other,” commented Di Cristofaro.
Guillemet describes the success of the Velofix brand as a result of taking the concept of mobile bike repair to an entirely new level of convenience and customer personalization. “The business was created to allow people to save time and ride more. Time is the number one issue for most people, and the convenience of the bike repair shop coming to your house or office to do the work is what has driven our growth.”
Guillemet also notes that all the company’s mechanics are certified by Barnett in Colorado, Guelph Institute or another recognized accreditation school.
“The Velofix concept makes it easy to not only stay in the industry but to have a very profitable business with a relatively low investment,” says Guillemet. “Rather than investing half a million dollars or more in a brick-and-mortar bike shop, you can be up and running with a Velofix franchise with a $50,000-$75,000 investment. Velofix then provides franchisee owners with postal code-driven GPS route optimization, customer relations management systems and inventory control through our parts purchasing power.”
According to Guillemet, interest in franchise opportunities is picking up fast, and Velofix has had inquiries from the U.S., the U.K. and Norway. “We expect that we can operate 30-plus vans across Canada and 400-plus in the U.S. market, and because our back-end systems are cloud-based, we can take the business international.”
The concept has so far proved efficient and attractive enough to convince Whitfield to purchase a second van that now services the Sea to Sky corridor to Whistler, B.C., and has also landed Velofix smack in the middle of the Dragon’s Den, CBC’s television show where entrepreneurs pitch their companies to a panel of potential investors. Guillement says he can’t discose details of the Dragon’s Den experience, “but I can tell you that we are very excited for people to see the episode, which we hope will air in October.”
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