Just as any popular and successful shopping mall needs an
‘Anchor’ tenant, the key to a popular and successful franchise
network is having a strong ‘Anchor’ franchise. In the case of
CODE ZERO, that strong ‘Anchor’ franchise is the Justice Institute
of British Columbia (JIBC).
For many years, as “Canada’s Leading Public Safety Educator”,
amongst other duties, the JIBC had been responsible for teaching
advanced driving skills to First-Responders. Being able to
arrive safely and swiftly at an emergency requires a high level of
competence and awareness behind-the-wheel and the driving programs
delivered by the JIBC have been highly lauded for providing those
skills to Police, Fire Departments and others.
In March 2007, CODE ZERO was formed as a joint venture between
its creator Andrew Field and the JIBC. While sharing a
driver-training facility with the JIBC, Andrew envisioned offering
an advanced driving program for the public based on the course
delivered by JIBC to new Police Recruits. The basic concept was to
teach the same essential, life-saving driving skills and techniques
to the public that are taught to First-Responders. Obviously,
the acquiring of these skills is vital to Public Safety and the
JIBC was eager to participate in a program that could pass such
skills on to everyone. After announcing CODE ZERO at the 2007
Vancouver International Auto Show, hundreds of drivers signed up
for the program and in fact, CODE ZERO became so successful that a
slightly more challenging Level Two driving program was announced
in 2008.
As the popularity of the CODE ZERO program increased, so did the
aspirations of its founder. In 2009, Andrew joined together
with JIBC Chief Instructor Grant Kinney, ‘Franchise Guru’ Norm
Friend and Operations Specialist Athena Paling to form CODE ZERO
Licensing International Inc. The new organization intended to
take the immensely popular program international in the long term
with the short-term goal of opening CODE ZERO franchises across
Canada. Although the group realized that there would probably
be a high demand for their product across the country, they also
realized that success for their future franchisees would be
dependent on the strong infrastructure that they would make
available along with a well-proven model provided by their ‘Anchor’
Franchise... the
JIBC.
CODE ZERO in Metro Vancouver continues to be a success
story. Thanks to a dedicated ‘hands-on’ approach by its
Franchisor, a myriad of benefits provided to its graduates plus a
growing number of promotional partners and ‘official suppliers’,
JIBC’s CODE ZERO program has expanded beyond expectations.
Moreover, a new JIBC driver-training facility is expected to open
soon which will aid considerably in CODE ZERO’s future growth
locally as well as provide the perfect site for franchisee
training. Again, the high level of expertise provided by the
JIBC and its staff will become a fundamental aid in the training of
all CODE ZERO franchisees.
Obviously, the JIBC is much more than just another CODE ZERO
franchise. They are the ‘Anchor’.
