Franchise Industry - Award Winners

NEWS RELEASE

Saturday 10th November 2001

FRANCHISE INDUSTRY - AWARD WINNERS

What do bakers, business coaches, mortgage brokers and home handy men have in common? They are all contributing to a $10 billion franchising industry in New Zealand and they are all award winners in the Franchise Association of New Zealand's Business Awards, presented by the Rt Hon Helen Clark, at the Sheraton Hotel, Auckland, Saturday 10 November 2001.

Judging convenor, Professor Gael McDonald, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Professor of Business Ethics at UNITEC Institute of Technology in Auckland, says the number and diversity of entrants in this year's awards has been outstanding, making judging a difficult task.

"The quality and quantity of entrants to the Franchise Association Awards continues to increase, which is a reflection of the growth of franchising as a business model in New Zealand. Franchising is experiencing 15-25% growth per annum in dollar turnover, number of outlets and employees ", she said.

Award Winners - Supreme Award

The winners of the Supreme Award for the Franchise Business Awards, 2001, is Bakers Delight (Franchisee System) Auckland. Bakers Delight scooped the awards pool, also winning the Franchise System Award, the Franchisee Award and the Auckland Regional Award.

Founded in 1980 in Australia and New Zealand, Bakers Delight is a well-known bakery franchise, with 450 stores in Australia and 30 in New Zealand. The Australasian Group turnover is in excess of $425 million, with 8000 employees and 200 at the corporate level. Grant Stapleton, general manager in New Zealand, says Bakers Delight serves about 1.8 million customers per week and is opening 123 new stores in Australasia this year.

The judges say Bakers Delight is an example of 'best practice' in franchising in every facet of its business system operations. "Strong leadership is evident in the corporate governance structure and make-up of the board of directors, and this is supported by robust information management and communication practices that flow throughout the organisation."

Franchise Systems Award

Bakers Delight, Auckland, also took the award for Franchise Systems, with the judges saying it is the strength of Bakers Delight's systems that helped them win the Supreme Franchise Award. The judges found an excellent understanding of how the franchise system operates, with very good review, monitoring and improvement of processes in place, coupled with very good documentation to back it up.

Master Franchise Award

Action International, a business coaching franchise based in Auckland, has won the Master Franchise Award for the second year running. Alan Edelmann, master licensee of Action International and winner of two supreme awards last year continued with the good work to pick up this prestigious award again this year.

Franchisee Award

Bakers Delight, Howick, won the Franchisee Award and judges commented that this franchisee demonstrated an excellent example of following a franchise system that works, while adding value to the system with improvements along the way. Bakers Delight, Howick, is consistently amongst the top three franchisees for the Bakers Delight Franchise System, in terms of sales, growth and profitability.

Leadership Award

Miranda Caird, Principal of Mortgage Choice New Zealand Ltd, Dunedin, won the Leadership Award and is described by judges as a 'visionary leader'. "She ensures all who work in her franchise system share her vision and contribute to it in a positive way. Miranda is passionate about her business, has been very successful in a male dominated industry and recently won South Island Businesswoman Of The Year."

Team Excellence Award

Two awards were presented in this category and winners were Brumby's, Hornby, Christchurch and Pete's Post, Tauranga. The Judges defined 'team excellence' as team cohesion, decision making and enjoyment.

"Brumby's, Hornby, exhibited the right combination of professionalism, excitement, and fun while operating in a very competitive franchise system."

Pete's Post, Tauranga, were praised by judges for their team approach to decision making and working well with each other in a consultative and supportive fashion.

Excellence in Franchise Management Systems Award

Action International, the Auckland based business-coaching franchise won this award, where the judges were looking for continual improvement of processes and the business's measurement, control and improvement.

Franchise Performance

Green Acres in Auckland won the award for Franchise Performance, which is the best overall performance in areas such as financial management, HR management, customer satisfaction and market exposure. Green Acres have recently floated their franchise publicly on the New Zealand Stock Exchange, which is exceptional within franchising in New Zealand. The judges said they had a very professional approach to their expansion strategy.

Excellence in Customer Service

This award was won by the Hire a Hubby franchise system in Auckland. The judges were looking for demonstrations of customer loyalty, complaint management, customer feedback and database management. The judges commended Hire a Hubby for their exceptional growth, which they said was driven in large part by the excellence of their customer service.

Regional Award Winners (Overall best entry in the Region)

- Auckland - Bakers Delight, Franchise System
- Tauranga - Brumby's, Franchisee
- Hawkes Bay - PORSE Nanny Childcare Network, Franchise System
- Christchurch - Mike Pero Mortgages, Franchise System
- Dunedin - Mortgage Choice NZ Ltd, Franchise System
- Waikato - Ron White Window Maintenance, Franchisee
- Wellington - had two regional Franchisee finalists; BB's Coffee and Bake, Tawa; and Hire a Hubby, Masterton.

New Zealand Franchise Media Award

The winner of the Franchise Association of New Zealand Media Award is Jon Stephenson, reporter for the Independent Business Weekly. Judges say Stephenson demonstrated a commitment to reporting on franchising issues over the whole year, with good investigative journalism on local and overseas franchising issues, which was balanced, informative, and contributed to a greater understanding of franchising in New Zealand.

ENDS:

Pictures of the winners can be down loaded from the FANZ website at www.franchise.org.nz

The Judges for the FANZ Business Awards can be contacted for further information

- Leith Oliver, lecturer for the University of Auckland's MBA and Graduate Diploma of Business courses, ph (025) 290 8699

- Professor Gael McDonald, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Professor of Business Ethics at UNITEC, Auckland, ph, (09) 815 4321 ext 8565

- Mr Maurice Mehlhopt, Executive Director, Newspaper Advertising Bureau ph, (09) 309 5720

- Mr Jeff Luskie, Director of Artisan Bakers, ph, 025 227 9800

The Franchise Association of New Zealand thanks the sponsors for the Franchise Association Business Awards who are;

The ANZ Bank, Sunday Star Times, WestpacTrust, Franchize Consultants (NZ) Ltd, Brebner Print, Telecom, Action International, Franchise New Zealand Magazine & Website, Urlich McNab Kilpatrick, Diners Club International, Fastway Couriers, GS McLauchlan.

Franchising accounts for $10 billion of economic activity in New Zealand each year

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