Rik Hellewell

Rik Hellewell is the 60 year old founder and long-standing MD of Ovenu, the specialist and original oven valeting service. The Ovenu brand has been built by Hellewell over the past 25 years from an initial pilot scheme in 1993/4 through to working with Master Franchisees abroad.

Hellewell is a keen advocate of the business format franchise model having adopted and adapted the original American philosophy back in 2000/1 so that there was a better fit for Ovenu franchisees in the years ahead. All the evidence shows that this was a very sharp decision indeed with the majority of Ovenu franchisees voting with their feet & regularly renewing their agreements with the brand.

Rik is the archetypal Yorkshireman in his approach to all things franchising. He rarely (if ever) lingers within the confines of ‘grey’ if there is a straight black & white answer to be given.

Hellewell and his immediate forbearers have a firm understanding of business and law with grandparents on each side of the family having been actively involved in both industry sectors. Quite a coincidence, or perhaps not, that flourishing in franchising relies heavily on such traits – something certainly not lost in the Hellewell mindset.

Over the decades Rik has attended many of the franchise exhibitions, association meetings & networking events. He is well acquainted with many like-minded colleagues and peers in the franchise sector including consultants, lawyers & publishers to name but a few.

More recently Rik has written several authoritative articles for the franchise sector media and the majority of these have been published both online and in the offline franchise press. He is rarely short of an opinion but equally knows when silence can be golden!

Rik’s company was the first to join the newly formed Approved Franchise Association a few years ago and he’ll no doubt thoroughly enjoy helping with the task of building another entity to replicate the success of his Ovenu brand.