From firefighting to germ-busting
As a firefighter on cruise ships, Mayank Malik was responsible for the safety of his passengers — now, as cleaner, he is focused on keeping workspaces healthy and safe.
The Hawkes Bay franchisee joined CrestClean earlier this year, after selling his cleaning franchise with another company.
“I planned to come to CrestClean a long time ago and this year I got the chance when I sold my previous business,” says Mayank.
“In CrestClean they have a high standard. They are the best company if you really want to grow your business, so why not join the best company?”
Before coming to New Zealand, Mayank worked on cruise ships for seven years as a firefighter. Thankfully he didn’t have to fight any fires during that time, but he had a busy daily schedule, ensuring the security and safety of passengers.
“All 5000 guests would know me by name. It was busy and exciting; I enjoyed it a lot,” says Mayank.
“We used to work for coastguard, we had a drill every week, sometimes twice a week to keep updated. I was lucky that we didn’t get any actual fires, but the drills were very hard, like fighting a fire.”
“I was single and I wanted to make money. I didn’t want to work on normal ships, I wanted to work on cruise ships. It’s like a 7 Star hotel on the sea — you make money while living a fancy life, and you visit so many countries. I’ve been to 31 countries, NZ is my 32nd.”
When Mayank married Deepika in in 2011, she joined him, working in hospitality on the cruise ships.
In 2014, the couple decided they wanted to settle down and start a family, so they chose to move to New Zealand, gaining residency in 2017 and welcoming the arrival of their son, Eshaan, in November 2018.
Mayank worked in various supermarket and retail roles, before buying a franchise with another commercial cleaning company two years ago. However, it didn’t meet his aspirations for business growth and achieving a better work-life balance, so he turned to CrestClean.
“CrestClean is amazing and I have nice customers. The Regional Manager Tim and his wife Kelly are very supportive. They always listen, and you can call them any time,” says Mayank.
“I’m happy. I start work whenever I want, I spend the daytime with my family and I have the weekend off. That’s why I changed businesses, for my family and my son. What more could I want in life?”
Applying the same dedicated work ethic and adherence to Health and Safety that he did during his time on cruise ships, Mayank has plenty of happy customers, having received seven Certificates of Excellence since he started five months ago.
And he is so happy with CrestClean’s business model that he has persuaded three friends to also purchase CrestClean franchises.
“I have all the work I want, I’m giving it 100% and my customers are happy.”
Hawkes Bay Regional Manager Tim O’Leary says Mayank is “absolutely thriving” as a CrestClean franchisee.
“We feel very blessed to have Mayank and his gorgeous family as part of our team. His customers are happy, the quality of his work is very high and his enthusiasm for cleaning and life in general is admirable.”
