While Quest Ivanhoe franchise business owner Bianca Tachdjian is proud to be a young female hotel manager – a role that traditionally was dominated by middle aged males – she still does sometimes encounter reactions of shock and surprise when people learn that she is an owner of a hotel business.
After finishing high school in 2008, Bianca found her first full-time role at Quest the following year, behind the reception desk at the company’s largest property at the time, Quest North Ryde.
Over the next 13 years, she worked her way up, holding a number of roles at property-level and within Quest’s head office, before being granted a minority ownership share in the Quest Ivanhoe franchise business, joining existing business owners Andrew Scott and Nick Michael.
“I’ve been here collectively for the last five years but a franchise business owner for the last 12 months,” she explained.
“I’ve worked within the property, understood the product and then was able to become a franchisee.”
Bianca has always been determined to succeed, but she says she leaned on the support of Quest colleagues and head office when making the leap to business owner.
“We’re a big family – everyone reaches out to each other at any given time,” she said.
While hotels have traditionally been heavily male dominated, particularly at ownership level, Bianca is seeing change. And she credits Quest with being a big believer in the power of female leadership.
“The Quest brand has always supported women in business, and now I think there’s even more of an emphasis on it,” she said.
She points to a recent Quest conference as an example.
“A lot of the guest speakers were female – it really championed equality,” she said.
“There is a big focus on diversity within the workplace at Quest. Everyone is free to be themselves – whatever their gender.”
Women supporting women
Quest’s onboarding process gives franchisees an opportunity to learn from other successful business owners. This gave Bianca the opportunity to learn from a fellow female leader.
“I speak quite frequently with Cat Mapperson, who is the franchise business owner of Quest on Dorcas, and Quest St. Kilda Road,” Bianca said.
“She was a fundamental pillar when I was doing my onboarding to become a franchise business owner. She’s been successful for the last 20+ years, so to have her support and mentorship is really great. She’s somebody that I can trust.”
With a team of all female employees at Quest Ivanhoe, Bianca is eager to pay it forward and pass on as much information and support to her team members to fulfil their own career goals.
“I want to see them grow and carve their own paths,” she said.
“I try to empower them to do everything that I do on a daily basis so that if I am ever absent that the business can run successfully without me.
“I also expose them to a lot of different conversations that I have with suppliers or other franchisees or any sales negotiations – there are a lot of those happening at the moment.”
Bianca believes the formula to success at Quest is a simple one.
“I think it’s about having the confidence in yourself and the belief in the product – if those two align then the business can be successful, no matter what location you’re in.”