Franchise owners across the UK have chosen the best franchises to invest in, following an industry-wide study to understand which franchisors best deliver on their promises, training, support, financial and non-financial rewards.
Specialist franchise research firm, Smith & Henderson quizzed more than 1,000 existing franchise owners before announcing the winners of the inaugural Best Franchise Awards.
Puddle Ducks netted a brace of awards for Overall Best Franchise and Most Recommended Franchise; TaxAssist Accountants landed the Best Training & Support award; Home Instead Senior Care was named Best Franchise System, while Jasper’s Online won Best Growing Franchisor.
Steven Frost, Partner at Smith & Henderson, said: “With almost 1,400 different franchise opportunities available in the UK, prospective franchise owners are faced with an overwhelming challenge when trying to find the very best franchise opportunities.
“What makes these awards unique is they are based on what the real experts think – actual franchise owners who work in those businesses day-in-day-out and their first hand experiences. The four franchisors recognised in this year’s awards are in an elite group and represent the very best franchise opportunities in the UK today.”
Smith & Henderson’s industry-wide study of franchise owner satisfaction, known as the Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark, involved franchise opportunities, which have 15 or more franchise owners.
It found that 94 per cent of Puddle Ducks’ franchise owners would recommend its franchise to a prospective franchise owner – the highest in the UK.
Jo Stone, co-founder of Puddle Ducks, which provides swimming classes for babies and children, said: “We are absolutely thrilled and honoured to win such prestigious awards among such tough competition. Winning the Overall Best Franchise is just fantastic endorsement from our franchise owners that our training, systems and every other aspect of our franchise is of a high standard within the industry.”
Recognised as having the Best Training & Support, TaxAssist franchise owners rated the quality of its initial training and support, head office, marketing and franchise owner-to-franchise owner support the best in the UK.
David Paulson, Franchise Recruitment Manager, said: “At TaxAssist Accountants, we have invested in the resources to provide training and the right level of support to ensure our network can build profitable businesses. Being recognised with this award and knowing it is the result of the opinion of our network is testament that our training works!”
The awards were presented as part of a day, which also included seven best practice seminars aimed at helping franchisors improve franchise owner satisfaction and develop even stronger franchise networks.
Published: 27 January 2012
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