Zarraffa's Coffee franchise network has just awarded its top performing franchisees at a gala dinner at the company's national franchisee convention held at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat.
Franchisee of the Year was awarded to Upper Coomera owners Bruce Fullerton and Elissa Hutton, who took out last year’s Rookie of the Year Award.
The brother and sister team edged out finalists Zarraffa’s Coffee Australia Fair and Zarraffa’s Coffee Surfers Paradise to take home the title. The win was based on key criteria such as quarterly store evaluations, local area marketing and business acumen with a judging panel of managing director Kenton Campbell, general manager Daryn Daniel, business development manager Marnie Sheldon and marketing manager Sarah Schoeller selecting the winner.
The Upper Coomera franchise also enjoyed a second accolade on the night taking out the 2009 Barista of the Year award, which went to Kahlia Hermann.
The Rookie Franchise of the Year Award went to Leanne Parkes and Carl Schultz from the Carrara store. “It is great to be able to acknowledge our newest stores and Carrara was very proactive with local area marketing in addition to having exceptional business acumen”, Kenton Campbell said. The Latte Art Award was also hotly contested with the Myer Centre’s, Ken Chiu impressing the judges this year.
The business emphasis for this year’s annual national franchisee conference was placed on corporate connection and culture. “We wanted to encourage our franchisees to carry on the culture of the brand in store and foster a connection as a group”, said Campbell.
Recording an average instore growth of 23.58 percent and group growth of 39.65 percent, the franchise chain used the convention to focus on ways to deliver higher returns in 2010.
"Our average store turnover for the year was $774,993.00 and we've now set our sights on increasing this figure. 2010 is all about store and company growth and with another three franchises opening this year and 12 scheduled over the next 12 months we are on our to achieving this in a financially responsible way," Campbell added.