Franchisee of the Year 2015 winners, judges and presenters.
The British Franchise Association (BFA) has announced the 20 nominees who will compete to be named the BFA/HSBC Franchisee of the Year 2016.
For the third consecutive year a record number of entries were received for the top honours available to UK franchisees. It’s the 27th year that the awards have recognised the highest standards, performance and business excellence of franchisees across the country.
Spanning six categories, the finalists are:
Young Franchisee of the Year (aged 30 or under)
- Luke Hodgson, Snap-on Tools
- Heather Ratcliffe, Swimtime
- Ben Witcomb, Metro Rod
Female Franchisee of the Year
- Tricia Craig, Metro Rod
- Clare Jefferies, Home Instead
- Cherry Lewis-Taylor, McDonald’s
- Alex Scotchbrook, Tutor Doctor
Microbusiness Franchisee of the Year (less than £100,000 turnover)
- Richard Bryan, Wilkins Chimney Sweep
- Mike Lethbridge, TruGreen
- Matthew Snell, Trophy Pet Foods
Customer Service Franchisee of the Year
- Nathan Holmes, Revive!
- Zak Patel, O2
- Dez Ward & Emma Lea, Molly Maid
- Jane Wiles & Ray Allenby, Signs Express
B2B Franchisee of the Year
- Lee Brimecombe & Paul Nebbett, in-toto
- Kevin Lawley, Minster Cleaning Services
- Andy Mee, Business Doctors
Olderpreneur Franchisee of the Year (aged 55 or older)
- Steve Brown, Rosemary Bookkeeping
- Peter Eccles, Snap-on Tools
- Charles Folkes, Caremark
Pip Wilkins
Pip Wilkins, the BFA’s chief executive officer, commented: “With around 45,000 franchise-owned businesses in the UK, we’ve had to make some very tough choices to get down to 20 finalists.
“Selecting just a handful of exceptional business owners to go through is extremely difficult. These are outstanding entrepreneurs that are leading the way in franchising and we’re set for an even more difficult task ahead in choosing the winners.”
The overall UK Franchisee of the Year 2016 will be named from one of the six category winners.
All finalists will present their case to a panel of expert judges in July, which this year includes Nicola Broadhurst of law firm Stevens & Bolton; Euan Fraser from AMO Consulting; and Stuart Walsh of Franchise Finance.
Brian Smart
They are joined by Brian Smart, former director-general of the BFA, who will chair the panel, Andrew Brattesani, UK head of franchising at HSBC and Pip Wilkins.
Winners will be named at a black-tie ceremony held in September at the Birmingham Town Hall. News of the awards can be followed via the hashtag #FranchiseeAwards16.