Winners of the 2019 bfa HSBC Franchise Awards have been announced

The 32nd instalment of the awards remains the pinnacle of showcasing the very best in franchising

The 2019 bfa HSBC Franchise Awards took place on 27th June at the Vox, Birmingham.

Designed to celebrate excellence in franchising from both franchisors and franchisees, the 32nd instalment of the awards, hosted by the British Franchise Association (bfa), remains the pinnacle of showcasing the very best in the industry.

This year’s Franchisor of the Year was Driver Hire, a franchise system that has been shortlisted for the accolade 13 times in the last 14 years, while the Franchisee of the Year award, chosen on the night, went to Kev and Amy Popat, from Right at Home.

Here are the winners of each category:

Franchisor of the Year
As well as demonstrating a passion and commitment to ethical franchising, shortlisted franchise systems evidenced strong infrastructure and support for their network, ensuring franchisees have the best environment to succeed and reach their full potential.

Franchisor of the Year (gold): Driver Hire
Franchisor of the Year (silver): OSCAR Pet Foods
Franchisor of the Year (bronze): Window to the Womb

Emerging Franchisor
This was for businesses that had shown a real passion for their brand and franchising from day one. Finalists demonstrated the implementation of a strong infrastructure built to sustain growth and facilitate potential issues that occur in a business’ infancy.

Winner: Radfield Home Care

Brand Awareness & Innovation
This award could revolve around a new brand, new product or service or even a new piece of technology and the impact it had on not only individual franchisees, but the network as a whole.

Winner: énergie Fitness

Leadership & Culture
Those shortlisted were businesses that had shown a real passion and commitment to their vision and values.

Winner: McDonald’s Restaurants

Social Enterprise
This award showcased franchisors that have built a business to respond to a demand or improve a social economic circumstance.

Winner: Wiltshire Farms Foods

Franchisee of the Year

Winner: Kev and Amy Popat, Right at Home

Young Female & Young Male
These two awards recognise that franchising isn’t all about experience. Judges looked for a franchisee who has established a profitable franchise, although they may not have come from a business background.

Young Female winner: Jennie Mills, Rainbow International

Young Male winner: Craig Bishop, Snap-on Tools

Business Transformation
The businesses of all finalists underwent significant transformation in order to achieve a new level of growth, profitability or efficiency.

Winner: Ed Pockney, Driver Hire

Customer Engagement
For franchisees that go above and beyond in their commitment to deliver the best customer experience in both B2B and B2C businesses.

Winner: Kev & Amy Popat, Right at Home

Multi-unit
The finalists were franchisees that had a clear passion for business and have become masters of managing teams.

Winner: Mark Sadleir, Window to the Womb

Lifestyle
The award showcases franchisees who may have bought into franchising to get a better work life balance or be their own boss and who, through their enterprising nature and determination to succeed, stand out from the crowd of other small business owners.

Winner: John & Elaine Warburton, Barking Mad

Pip Wilkins, CEO of the bfa, believes that the strength of the applications this year were indicative of an industry that is thriving: “Congratulations to everybody who won an award, and to all those shortlisted. The franchising industry is showing record growth. There are more franchise systems than ever, and there are more females and young people becoming franchisees.

“Franchising is able to adapt to societal shifts in culture and needs too, which is a major advantage for businesses in the industry which thrive through change. The franchisees and franchisors that were shortlisted really reflect this.”

Andy Brattesani, UK Head of franchising, HSBC, added: “As long-standing supporters of the awards, it is always fantastic watching the industry come out in force.

“Well done to all of the winners, and the categories show how diverse the industry is, both in terms of the breadth of services provided by companies, and also the opportunities this allows for franchisees to optimise their lifestyle and work culture.”

What Franchise will be putting up video interviews with some of the winners and attendees of the British Franchise Association Conference soon.