Westpac NZ Franchise Award: Winner Focused on Customers!

Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards 2014/15: Winner Focused on Customers!

The Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards, held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Auckland on 15th November and attended by more than 230 members of FANZ and their guests, is the annual showcase for outstanding performers in franchising and suppliers to the franchising sector. New categories this year recognise excellence in community involvement and also individual performance by support staff.

Once again, this year’s awards attracted a quality entry and all those who reached finalist status were commended by the Judges. The entries for the Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards are independently evaluated and judged under the internationally recognised Baldrige criteria for business excellence and administered by the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation.

The highly contested Westpac Franchise System of the Year award went to Specsavers New Zealand Limited in what was their first ever entry to the Awards. In the judges’ opinion, this was a challenging decision because the finalists were so closely matched. However, the systems that Specsavers have developed, their customer focus and their successful business partnerships gave them the edge to take out this award. This was underpinned by their excellent results, moving what is a high cost product into a volume business through their strong customer focus.

The Westpac Franchisee of the Year award was won by The Coffee Club, Bethlehem for the third successive year. The judges commented that this was another challenging decision for them, but franchisees Ivy and William Joe have stepped up performance to yet another level. By combining a proven comprehensive franchise system with innovative ideas they continually retain and expand their customer base. The judges were also impressed by the way they give back to the community that they operate in.

Simon Power, Westpac’s General Manager, Business Bank and Wealth said, "Westpac has sponsored the Franchise Awards for 20 years and during that time we’ve seen the industry grow and enhance its reputation both locally and abroad. Franchising is a key driver of growth in NZ and as the industry has grown in sophistication events such as these serve as a platform to identify strong franchise systems for our business customers and create marketing opportunities for our franchisors’ clients."

Ian Robertson, Chairman of FANZ said, “In entering the Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards each entrant opens up their business to the scrutiny of the evaluators and judges. Through this process those entrants learn more about their business, its strengths and its weaknesses to enable them to chart the directions for their businesses to follow for ongoing success. Participants in the Westpac Franchise Awards are key contributors to the ever growing pool of business knowledge and acumen within the wider franchise industry of New Zealand”.

Brett Marsh, Chairman of the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation commented, “It is important to acknowledge all the applicants and award winners for whom tonight is a milestone in their journey; the volunteer evaluators who give of their time freely and generously, but who in turn are inspired by the organisations that invite them to share their lives for that moment; and the judges who bring their extensive experiences of business to the process in moderating the results To all of those involved, thank you, or congratulations, or both”.

The 20th Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards Winners:

SUPREME AWARDS
Westpac Franchise System of the Year – Specsavers New Zealand Limited
Westpac Franchisee of the Year – The Coffee Club, Bethlehem

MAIN CATEGORY AWARDS
Retail, Food and Beverage Best Franchisee of the Year sponsored by Super Liquor Holdings & Lion – The Coffee Club – Bethlehem
Retail, Food and Beverage Best Franchise System of the Year sponsored by Super Liquor Holdings & Lion – Specsavers New Zealand Limited
Home & Lifestyle Services Best Franchisee of the Year sponsored by Yellow, – Hire a Hubby - Kapiti
Home & Lifestyle Services Best Franchise System of the Year sponsored by Yellow – Green Acres

SUB CATEGORY AWARDS
Retail Best Franchisee sponsored by Super Liquor Holdings & Lion – Mr Minit – Downtown
Food and Beverage Best Franchisee sponsored by Super Liquor Holdings & Lion – The Coffee Club – Bethlehem
Retail Best Franchise System sponsored by Super Liquor Holdings & Lion – Specsavers New Zealand Limited
Food and Beverage Best Franchise System sponsored by Super Liquor Holdings & Lion – The Coffee Club Franchising (NZ) Ltd.
Home Services Best Franchisee sponsored by Yellow, – Hire a Hubby – Kapiti
Home Services Best Franchise System sponsored by Yellow – Green Acres
Lifestyle Services Best Franchisee sponsored by Yellow, – Just Cabins - Waitakere
Lifestyle Services Best Franchise System sponsored by Yellow – Just Cabins

SPECIAL AWARDS
Service Provider of the Year sponsored by NZME – Franchize Consultants
Community Involvement Franchisee of the Year sponsored by Waipuna Hotel & Conference Centre – sKids Paraparaumu/Otaki
Community Involvement Franchise System of the Year sponsored by Waipuna Hotel & Conference Centre – Bedpost New Zealand
Retail, Food & Beverage Field Manager of the Year – Under $500k sponsored by Franchise Accountants – Damion Kaukau, NZ Post KiwiBank
Retail, Food & Beverage Field Manager of the Year – Over $500k sponsored by Franchise Accountants – Natalie Newton, Harrisons Carpet One
Home & Lifestyle Services Field Manager of the Year – Over $500k sponsored by Franchise New Zealand magazine & website – Andrew Kidd, Poolwerx Corp. Pty. (Highly Commended).

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ENDS

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