From left to right, the award winners:
- Dean Chapman, McDonald’s Restaurants
- Abel Campos, McDonald’s Restaurants
- Mandy Bagot, Cloud Bookkeeping
- Sarah Robertson, TaxAssist Accountants
- Nikki Butlin, Cloud Bookkeeping
- James Mattam, TaxAssist Accountants
- Steve Franks, Water Babies
- Paul Thompson, Water Babies
Following feedback from over 2,000 franchisees, Smith & Henderson is proud to announce the winners of The 2012 Best Franchise Awards, supported by Lloyds TSB Commercial.
Franchisees were invited to provide anonymous feedback about their franchise ownership experience and rate the training and support provided by their franchisor. The top franchisors were then shortlisted for The 2012 Best Franchise Awards and interviewed by a judging panel headed by Richard Holden, Head of Franchising at Lloyds TSB Commercial.
The Best Franchise programme, now in its second year, had 50% more franchisors participate in 2012. These were from a wide range of business sectors, offering franchise opportunities ranging from £2,000 to £325,000.
There are five award categories and the winners and finalists are highlighted below:
Best Training & Support:
TaxAssist Accountants - WINNERFinalists: McDonald’s Restaurants and Music Bugs
Best Franchise System:
McDonald’s Restaurants - WINNERFinalists: Home Instead Senior Care and Water Babies
Best Growing Franchisor (open to franchisors with less than 15 franchisees or franchising less than two years):
Cloud Bookkeeping - WINNER
Finalists: HomeXperts and Right At Home
Best Mid-Size Franchisor (open to franchisors with 15-49 franchisees):
Water Babies - WINNER
Finalists: Puddle Ducks and Music Bugs
Best Large Franchisor (open to franchisors with 50+ franchisees):
TaxAssist Accountants - WINNER
Finalists - McDonald’s Restaurants and ActionCOACH
The winners were announced on Thursday 29th November at The Best Franchise Conference in Oxfordshire. This included ten best practice seminars designed to help franchisors improve their support, franchise systems and network performance.
The judging panel included:
- Richard Holden, Head of Franchising, Lloyds TSB Commercial
- Graeme Payne, Partner, Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP
- Carl Reader, Partner, Dennis & Turnbull Accountants
- Derrick Simpson, Director, Franchise Resales
- Suzie McCafferty, Franchise Consultant, Platinum Wave
- Gary Rigby, Franchise Consultant, Franchise Development Services
Sarah Robertson, Business Development Director of TaxAssist Accountants said; “We are thrilled to have won these two prestigious awards ahead of some very strong competition. We are very proud to have won the Best Training and Support Award for the second year running. It’s an award we can celebrate with our team who work hard to support and train our network of accountants and their staff all year round. The award is more meaningful as it is based on independent research by Smith & Henderson which researches what our network truly feel about the support and training we provide.’’
Richard Holden, Head of Franchising at Lloyds TSB Commercial and sponsors of the awards initiative, said: “We are delighted to support The Best Franchise Awards, which recognise outstanding franchisors and will help drive up industry standards. The UK franchise market continues to display strong growth, reflected in the shortlisted nominees, and plays a vital part in the UK economy. We’d like to congratulate all the winners and finalists and wish them the best of luck.”
Steven Frost, Partner, Smith & Henderson, which coordinates the programme, said, “The Best Franchise Awards are based on what really counts – the experience of thousands of actual franchisees. These franchisors therefore have the best franchisee support, franchise systems and ultimately, the best franchise opportunities in the UK. We should congratulate them for their achievements.”
Smith & Henderson is a leading independent franchise consultancy, helping franchisors to build even stronger franchise networks. FranchiseExpo is proud to count Steven Frost as one of our Industry Experts. See our Resource Section under Our Expert Team for articles from Steven. Smith & Henderson's also a member of the British Franchise Association.
