Making lemonade
Brothers get business basics right

A good entrepreneur is someone who can take a fresh approach to an existing industry and carve out a market share despite the obvious obstacles.

Luckily for lemon.decor, the business has two such individuals driving it forward.

Three years ago, brothers Kevin and Ricky Frankental took R20 000 and an idea and set to work to create a customised artwork business.

This year, the business expects a R10 million turnover and customers are lining up to make use of their services.

Humble beginnings

Lemon.decor prints art and media onto laminate which in turn are used on various surfaces such as glass, mirrors, walls or plastics. This means that an ordinary restaurant chair becomes a work of art or that interior designers can offer corporate and private clients customised art solutions.

The idea of printing onto laminate is not new by any stretch of the imagination but the uses the Frankentals came up with are, and this was where differentiation came in.

The brothers also knew that service would set them apart in an industry where deadlines are often viewed as vague guidelines.

The proof has been in the pudding and the business has already had to move four times in three years due to rapid growth.

It starts with an idea

Ricky explains that as IT professional, he always wanted to try his hand at running a business. He went into business with a couple of partners focussing on laminate printing but left after two years.

Kevin in turn is a designer by trade and worked at a small firm focussing on point of sale advertising.

When Ricky approached him with the idea for lemon.decor, he knew that they had a viable business idea on their hands.

The brothers set to work and went looking for clients. "Our biggest challenge is that our business is fairly new and innovative," Ricky says. "We needed to tell people about it, let them know what we can do and create a demand."

He explains that while the basis of the business focussed on laminate printing, the uses and mediums used were completely different.

"The digital printing industry is cutthroat and largely focussed on the advertising industry," Kevin says. "We have taken the technology and applied it to a new market."

Previous experience had also taught Ricky that the physical printing and installing of laminates was a problem in the industry due to poor service.

"We have really struggled to create a reliable supply chain. We knew that if we were serious about the business we would need to bring everything in-house."

The brothers hired installation crews and graphic designers and also took out a loan to buy a large format digital printer.

Business sense

Bringing everything in-house and creating a turnkey service allowed them to grow the business quickly. But Ricky and Kevin realised that they could easily shoot themselves in the foot by offering their digital printing services at too low a price. So, they set up a different company, lemon.lab, to run this side of the business and lemon.decor is now its client.

Another key factor to success was the way in which the Frankental brothers approached their clients. Because interior designers are not interested in the technical aspects of their work, lemon.decor is able to take an order and deliver - the client is never bothered again.

Kevin and Ricky believe that keen financial management also allowed the business to grow quickly, especially in light of the low initial capital outlay. This included insisting on deposits, securing accounts and good terms with suppliers and building a good credit record.

Most importantly however, they tried to complete jobs as quickly as possible to generate cash which could be used to fund the next project. By doing this, they actively made their cash on hand work for the business and generate more money.

In addition, they focussed on securing a number of small clients to spread the risk of possible defaults. It is only now that they are moving their attention to larger customers.

"Our customer base is about relationships," Kevin says, adding that they focussed on the fact that whatever is manufactured is a once-off design and exclusive.

"In the beginning we literally picked up design and décor magazines and started meeting with people and creating relationships."

Ups and downs

Because the brothers focussed on these essential business elements, they were able to survive and grow during the recession. Ricky says that while they were obviously worried about the effects of the downturn on the business, they made the decision to not cower in fear.

"We believed we are a very small player in a very big market. So, you can still grow even if the market shrinks. In fact, the recession meant being able to grow by offering better value for money and service and it worked.

"If we had just sat back and worried about the recession we would have lost out on many different opportunities."

While lemon.decor is proving to be a successful business in every sense, it has not always been easy. Besides the long hours required, Ricky says it has been a bit of a learning curve to comply with the different legal and tax requirements the average SME in South Africa faces.

"It is hard to set up a business (for the first time) and to avoid making mistakes. We had to learn a lot very quickly - the time and complexity involved is ridiculous. But, it is critical that you do this properly in the beginning otherwise you will end up in trouble."

Nevertheless, the Frankentals seem to have what it takes to be an entrepreneur and they are now launching a new business which creates vertical pieces of art using living plants.