Joint Venture Partner at IOLLA

Own and Lead Your Own IOLLA Showroom Bristol is ready. The question is, are you? You’re experienced in optics. You understand the industry. Now you’re ready for more than employment. We are looking for a Joint Venture Partner in Bristol to open a new IOLLA showroom in the near future, building a commercially strong, community-led presence in one of the UK’s most dynamic creative cities.

IOLLA is offering a limited number of Joint Venture Partnerships to ambitious optical professionals who want to step into true business ownership with the backing of an independent, founder-led brand. This is an opportunity to co-own and operate your own IOLLA showroom in a priority UK location. Unlike many franchise or independent start-up opportunities, IOLLA’s Joint Venture model is designed to be more accessible. With structured support and external funding options, personal capital investment can start from as little as £20,000, depending on location and funding structure.

About IOLLA: Founded in Scotland, IOLLA designs and manufactures its own frames and lenses, selling directly to customers at transparent, honest prices. We operate seven award-winning showrooms and have served hundreds of thousands of customers. We are independent, design-led and people-first - not corporate, not volume-driven, and not built like traditional multiples. We also run our own manufacturing facility, dispatching every single pair ourselves from our Scottish workshop. We are now expanding across the UK with carefully selected Joint Venture Partners.

The Opportunity: As a Joint Venture Partner, you will:

• Co-own and lead your own IOLLA showroom
• Build and manage your own retail team
• Take responsibility for local performance and profitability
• Embed the brand in your community
• Deliver exceptional customer experience, the IOLLA way

You bring the leadership, optical knowledge and ambition. We bring the product, supply chain, systems, brand, marketing and operational support. This is ownership with infrastructure. Not a cold start independent, and not a corporate franchise model.

What’s On Offer:

• A proven, vertically integrated business model
• Founder-led support and partnership
• Full retail, operational and marketing playbook
• Access to our product design and manufacturing advantage
• Ongoing strategic and commercial support
• The opportunity to build long-term equity in your region

Optical retail remains one of the most stable, repeat-purchase categories in UK retail, with predictable demand and strong gross margins. This is a genuine entrepreneurial opportunity for professionals ready to move from employed to owner.

Who We’re Looking For:

• Experienced optical professionals (Optometrists, Dispensing Opticians, Retail Managers, Optical Assistants ready to step up)
• Individuals with strong leadership capability
• Commercially minded and motivated by ownership
• Community-focused and customer-first
• Ready to take accountability for performance, people and growth

You do not need previous business ownership experience but you do need drive, resilience and ambition.

Why Bristol: Bristol has creative energy and commercial confidence. It’s youthful but established; a city of founders, creatives, professionals and families. There’s independent spirit here. Customers are design-aware and culturally plugged in, but still practical. IOLLA’s transparent pricing and own-brand manufacturing story would land well = it fits the "do things differently" mentality. For a Joint Venture Partner, Bristol is about momentum. Strong footfall, strong identity, and room to build something distinctive.

Investment & Commitment: This is a capital-backed partnership opportunity requiring personal investment and external funding. We are looking for serious candidates who are ready to explore ownership properly review financials, sign an NDA and enter structured discussions. We have selected specific priority locations with strong commercial potential. When they are filled, they are filled.

Why IOLLA? Because optics can be better. Better for customers. Better for teams. Better for the professionals who actually run the business. If you’re ready to stop building someone else’s brand and start building your own, with the right support behind you, we’d love to speak. Apply to arrange a no-obligation conversation and explore whether Joint Venture Partnership with IOLLA is right for you.