The self-styled ‘Bonus King’ Betfred owner Fred Done, is about to embark on a new adventure that will see him open 50-truck stop facilities across the motorways of the UK during the next five-years.
Betfred founder Fred Done has gotten the spring back into his step thanks to an unlikely business venture. The self-made multi-millionaire is about to embark on a journey that will see him open upwards of 50 motorway service truck stops over the next five years.
The new venture started by complete accident after the ‘Bonus King’ picked up Hollies Truck Stop near Cannock Staffordshire, after it went into receivership. The plan was to buy it, sell it and make a small profit but suddenly the truckers started to arrive in their droves. Before you know it Done was raking in £100,000 per month for secure parking and a good old-fashioned bit of British grub.
“It’s a new concept and an opportunity to make money. It doesn’t exist at present other than here and, if you give them what they want then people will come and this place is proof of that,” Done told Charles Yates of the Times.
Done has likened his recent surge of revitalized energy to the time he opened his first bookmakers back in 1967, a business venture that has seen him increase his holding of real estate to 1,365 betting shops across the UK. His vision for the future is a simple, but effective, one. Give the masses what they want and the money will follow. Fred and his brother Peter recently featured in the Sunday Times Rich list where an estimated £850m fortune saw them enter the charts in 112th place, and second in gambling terms only to the Coates family over at Bet365.
“The figures on a monthly basis are the barometer and they tell me very strongly that this will be a runaway success if replicated on roads all round the country.”
The new venture comes just two years after Done completed a £265m deal to take over the reigns of the Tote. In addition to the 1,365 retail outlets, Betfred also has a solid online footprint and a workforce of 8,500 employees.
He also makes a cracking bacon sarnie.
