I started Bespoke Foil Company in 2017 because every handprint kit I tried was messy, faded or just didn't do the moment justice. Nine years on, I still go to baby classes every week with my kit bag, and I still get a lump in my throat when a mum sees her baby's prints for the first time.
The Memory Catcher™ franchise is how we're sharing that with other parents. A Memory Catcher does what I do: takes babies' hand and footprints in person, at baby classes, events and home visits, in their own area. Our studio in Wigan does everything after that. People keep asking how it's going, so here's an honest update.
Where it started
Before we asked anyone else to do this, I wanted the numbers to stand up. These are my own figures from visiting baby groups, taken straight from our till system:
- 151 visits to baby groups
- £35,770 in sales
- £237 average sales per visit
Those are sales, not what I took home. A Memory Catcher earns 40% of every sale they make in person, so on an average visit like mine that's around £95, before any call-out charge for a home visit, which they keep in full.
My figures are a real example from my own visits, not a promise of what you'll earn. What you earn depends on how many sessions you run and where.
Meet our first Memory Catchers
Camille Ashforth, East Lancashire. Camille was our first Memory Catcher. Her region covers six full districts: Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Pendle and Rossendale. She runs sessions with families across East Lancashire, uses the Hub day to day and is leading our new memorial keepsakes with the funeral homes in her area. A lot of how that service works today came from her feedback.
Salamata Bah, Greenwich and Lewisham. Salamata is our first Memory Catcher in south-east London, covering the whole of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Lewisham. She joined us in September, her card reader and Hub are set up, and we've invited her up to Wigan to spend a day with me, just as Camille did.
And me, in Wigan, St Helens and Bolton. I'm still a Memory Catcher too. I take payments on the same Hub and card reader as everyone else, so if something isn't right, I'm the first to find out.
What we've built for them
We want a Memory Catcher's time to go on families, not paperwork. So most of this year has gone into making the business side as small as we can.
- The Memory Catcher™ Hub. The whole business on your phone: a card reader that takes payment at the session, a diary for classes and home visits, the venues worth going back to, stock ordering, and your earnings, worked out for you as each sale goes through.
- Nothing to invoice. We work out what you're owed, pay it every month and send you the statement. You never raise an invoice to us.
- Your own marketing. Your own page on Find a Memory Catcher, your own link and QR code (you earn 20% on the baby hand and footprint kits parents buy online through it), personalised business and thank-you cards, and the Memory Catcher™ Studio, which makes social posts with your name, area and photo already on them.
- The studio does the rest. After a session, the family uploads their prints and our studio in Wigan takes it from there: we tidy up any smudges, send the family a free proof, then foil it and post it to them. You never have to touch production.
You can see every part of it on our Memory Catcher Hub page.
What's surprised us
Funeral homes
We built the franchise around babies. Then, led by Camille, we started talking to funeral homes, and this autumn we launched memorial keepsakes: a framed foil handprint of someone a family has lost, taken by their funeral director, looked after by the local Memory Catcher and made in our studio.
It's a gentle and important part of the job, and it's a new way for a Memory Catcher to earn: 30% of every memorial package. You can see what families and funeral directors see on our memorial keepsakes page.
A day together beats any manual
When Camille spent a day with me, she found it really useful, and so did I. How a session flows, how to settle a wriggly baby (our tips for a baby who won't open their hand come from those sessions), when a mum needs a chat more than a sale: you can put it in a video, but it sinks in when you see it. That's why we're doing the same for Salamata.
The numbers, honestly
Here's how a Memory Catcher earns, exactly as it is on our franchise page:
- 40% of every sale you make in person, at classes, events and home visits.
- 20% of every kit parents buy online through your own link or QR code.
- Your own call-out charge on home visits and private bookings, and that's 100% yours.
- £500 when someone you refer joins as a Memory Catcher, and they get £500 off their setup cost.
- 30% of every memorial package for the funeral homes you look after, once the funeral home has paid.
Setting up costs £3,445. That's our Founders Pricing for our first ten Memory Catchers, and it goes up to £6,995 after that. It covers your exclusive region, the Hub, your card reader, 100 print kits, your display and branded kit, your printed cards and your training with me.
If you'd like to try your own numbers, our earnings calculator lets you change the sessions and sales and see what it adds up to.
What's next
- More Memory Catchers. We've mapped 112 regions across the UK and the Isle of Man, and most of them are still available. Each region has one Memory Catcher, so once it's taken, it's taken.
- Memorial keepsakes in more areas, as each Memory Catcher gets to know the funeral homes near them.
- A better Hub, all the time. It changes most weeks, and a lot of what changes comes from what our Memory Catchers tell us.
Could you be a Memory Catcher?
Most of our Memory Catchers have been where the parents they meet are now. The broken sleep, the appointments, the days you just need someone to talk to about all things baby. That lived experience is the real qualification, and we'll teach you the rest.
If you're curious, this is how it works:
- A relaxed Zoom call with me. Ask anything you like and see the numbers. No commitment.
- A Discovery Day at our Wigan studio. Meet the team, handle the products and see exactly how it all works.
- Your region is confirmed. We map your exclusive area and book you in for training.
- You're a Memory Catcher. Fully equipped, fully trained and ready for your first session.
Send me your details and I'll be in touch, or have a look at which regions are available first. And if you'd simply like a session for your own family, you can find a Memory Catcher near you.
Ashley
