Former firefighter joins Jackson Fire & Security

A former firefighter and his son are teaming up to bring Jackson Fire & Security to Sheffield and the surrounding area.

Henryk Matysiak is no stranger to franchising, having run a sandwich franchise in the past. However, with more than 30 years of his career spent in the fire service, he knew that a more fruitful business opportunity could be found by utilising his years of valuable training and experience.

Henryk was born in Barnsley and spent more than three decades working for the fire brigade. Six years ago, he decided to become his own boss by opening a franchise. His son Alex also managed to build a good career, spending more than ten years in the construction industry as a project manager. He worked on many projects, including overseeing the installation of fire and security systems for many of the UK’s retail chains.

However, after a chance conversation with Jackson Fire & Security’s Managing Director, Steve Jackson, the pair were encouraged to put their years of fire safety training and installation experience to good use. Henryk explained:

“We always wanted to diversify and we wanted to do something else, so we went along to meet Jackson Fire & Security to discuss their growth plans in Yorkshire. We like the local branch emphasis but I initially thought ‘I’ve had enough of fire’ but Alex persuaded me to give it some thought and we got talking to Steve Jackson and got on really well which made us think we’d give it a go and join the group.”

He continued:

“We set out what we were looking for and put our skills together and realised we could build a good relationship. My background will certainly help and Alex’s installation experience will too. It was down to trust, building relationships and the skillset we had. We’ve found Jackson Fire & Security very accommodating and we like the head office structure as it gives us the support we need. We know the South Yorkshire area and the people in it, and every time we came away from any meetings with Jackson Fire and Security, it all just seemed to fit together. We like the fact that we are a family run local branch with a great national support network.”

Henryk concluded by explaining how the partnership between himself and his son will work.

“I have an understanding of the end product from a fire safety point of view as well as managing people while Alex knows the building industry well and his experience in that and the electrical industry will be invaluable. We both bring the very highest standards of workmanship and customer service and we pride ourselves on these two key aspects of our business which gives us a good solid base to grow.”