From Pan Am Pilots to Business Innovators

The year was 1962, the Pan Am Clipper from New York took a long twelve hours and Jim Zockoll and the rest of the crew were tired when they arrived at the Kensington Gardens Hotel in London. The commotion on the hotel floor was the manager frustrated at not being able to clear a drain problem due to how long he had to wait and the cost.

Jim not only held down a job as a professional flight engineer, he set himself up as a one man band drain cleaning service to make ends meet as there was a risk he would be furloughed from the airline as the new jets arrived. Recognising an opportunity, Jim negotiated with the manager a fee and arranged to come back on his next trip later that week. With that handshake, Jim came back with his electromechanical drain cleaning equipment and both parties were left happy; The manager with the job done properly in half the time and for half the cost and Jim with a nice little bonus for his efforts.

Instead of ending there, Jim recognized the bigger opportunity and puts in place life changes over the coming years to create what becomes Dyno-Rod and changes forever the way Britain clears it’s drains. In deciding how to best put into place a network of qualified engineers that deliver a high level of customer service and satisfaction, he determines that franchising would be the best way to achieve this and in doing so introduced the UK’s first non-food franchise which paved the way for the franchising and the drain cleaning models you see in the UK today.

The Zockoll Group today

The Zockoll Group today has come a long way from its purely franchised models of year’s past. Our journey continues with an increased focus on licensing that can range from small, regional opportunities to UK wide master licenses.

Traditional franchises can be tailored and built to your business requirements while benefitting from over fifty years of experience.

Welcome to the Z Generation.