Franchise Awards

Category Information

FRANCHISOR AWARDS

Note - All Special Recognition Awards listed below are open to Franchisors for entry

Food & Beverage Service Franchise of the Year (Turnover €0-1.5M)

This category is open to all franchises whose business is centred around serving food and beverages to consumers including dining, casual dining, take-away, drive-through and mobile formats with annual turnover of up to €1.5M. This category is not open to trade suppliers or retailers in the food and beverage space.

Food & Beverage Service Franchise of the Year (Turnover €1.5M+)

This category is open to all franchises whose business is centred around serving food and beverages to consumers including dining, casual dining, take-away, drive-through and mobile formats with annual turnover of €1.5M plus. This category is not open to trade suppliers or retailers in the food and beverage space. 

Retail Franchise of the Year

This award is reserved for retail franchises who are operating and performing in their chosen sector. It is open to all retail franchises who primarily sell goods to a consumer audience. They must have a retail premises accessible to the public and/or an online ecommerce platform with more than 10 products. This category is not open to service providers with retail premises who sell a small selection of retail goods in addition to their main services. 

Service Franchise of the Year (B2B and B2C)

This award is reserved for service franchises who are operating and performing in their chosen sector. It is open to all retail franchises who primarily sell services, rather than goods, to both B2C and B2B audiences. This category is open to all those who primarily provide a service to either B2C or B2B and are based online, in an office or retail premises. 

Education Franchise of the Year

This category recognises franchises dedicated to education, be it STEM, education for children or additional professional training for adults. The category is open to all franchises whose primary purpose is to provide educational content or experiences to all age groups. This can be in the form of courses, events or physical locations. 

FRANCHISEE AWARDS

Note - The Employee Star of the Year and Community Champion of the Year Special Recognition awards are also open to Franchisees for entry

Franchisee of the Year – Retail

The retail franchisee category was established to recognise the contribution of an individual franchisee providing retail products and experiences to customers directly. This category is specifically for franchisees who operate a single unit with FMCG or other products available. 

This category excludes franchisees who provide services with a minority percentage of retail products available, and food and beverage.

Franchisee of Year – Food & Beverage

This franchisee category was established to recognise the contribution of an individual franchisee in the food and beverage. This category is open to all franchisees whose business is centred around serving food and beverages to consumers including dining, casual dining, take-away, drive-through and mobile formats and to suppliers or retailers in the food and beverage space. 

Franchisee of the Year – Service

The retail franchisee category was established to recognise the contribution of an individual franchisee providing services to their customers. This category excludes franchisees who are retailers with a minority percentage of service support available, and food and beverage.

Franchisee of the Year- Multi-unit - (3+) 

The new franchisee category was introduced to recognise multi-unit franchisees in any sector or of any type, retail or service. 

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARDS

Best Digital Presence of the Year

Did your online presence take off this year or grow significantly? Has your customer engagement skyrocketed? This award is for a company who has invested time and resources into significantly growing its digital presence, and who can specifically attribute this growth in digital presence directly to the actions undertaken between April 2022 and January 2023. 

Best Emerging Franchise of the Year

This category was established to recognise franchisors in the start-up phase, within the first two years of their franchise journey. Our judges want to see businesses that are working towards being structured as ethical business format franchises by implementing the key components of a best practice franchise system and who are performing across all areas of the business, including finance, operations and communications. 

Community Champion of the Year

Every business is part of a local community and the mutual engagement between the people of the community and the business is at the core of successful towns and cities across Ireland. This award is to honour franchise teams who, in different ways, take the time and effort to support, integrate and promote the long-term health and prosperity of their community through acts of engagement, generosity and kindness.

Employee Star of the Year

This is a special recognition award for an employee who has stood out this past year for their superior dedication, exceptional performance and team contribution. For example, this is a person, at any level within the company, who has made a difference or who has shown considerable professional growth and personal development in 2022/2023. The award is open to any employee of an operating franchise in Ireland, (either franchisors or franchisees). 

Irish International Franchise of the Year

Has your franchise expanded beyond the island of Ireland for the first time or is your expansion accelerating year on year? This award category is for all Irish franchisors operating at an international level and who are successfully operating in the UK, Europe and beyond. This category is open to all franchise concepts originating  in Ireland and operating in at least 1 additional international market. 

Leadership in Franchising Award

Leadership is an essential ingredient in the continued success and expansion of Irish franchises at home and abroad. It makes a difference for every member of the team working in the franchise. Leadership is the team manager who supports their team, it is the CEO who seizes opportunities, it is the person who encourages and activates innovation. This award is to recognise and honour leadership in all its forms, which contributes to the success of franchising in Ireland. It is for the person who shows exemplary leadership skills through communication, commitment and clarity. 

Marketing Campaign of the Year

Did your team conceive, plan and execute a game-changing campaign for your business in 2022/2023? This award is for a brand who developed and implemented a campaign to target a specific business objective and, through purpose marketing, has shown measurable success in meeting this objective. 

Sustainability Champion of the Year

Sustainability is fast becoming one of the top hot topics for business in 2023. Every business has a responsibility to consider their green footprint and to take action towards achieving greater sustainability practices within their business. This award is to celebrate the sustainability pioneers in the franchise community. Those who have taken action to make sustainability a measurable part of their everyday operations and values while also integrating it into their long-term business strategy. 

OVERALL FRANCHISEE OF THE YEAR

Overall Franchise of the Year

The winner of this coveted award will be chosen from the winners of all other categories. 

FRANCHISE SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Franchise Supplier of the Year

The Supplier of the Year Award gives franchisors and franchisees an opportunity to nominate the suppliers who support them to operate effectively and provide quality products and services to their customers. All types of suppliers of both goods and services can be nominated including equipment suppliers, financial service suppliers, accounting, software, consumables, food ingredients and products etc.