Celebrating Franchise System Success
The CFA Awards of Excellence and Franchisees’ Choice Designation are among the highest honours in Canadian franchising—celebrating Franchise Systems that deliver exceptional experiences to their franchisees.
Award Categories
To reflect the wide range of franchise opportunities in Canada and enable franchise systems to be rated against their peers in their class, the Awards of Excellence are divided into Traditional and Non-Traditional segments and include seven distinct categories. Winners are determined from the franchisees’ assessments.
Franchisees’ Choice Designees are entrants with survey scores exceeding a benchmark standard. Franchise systems that achieve this distinction may continue to earn Franchisees’ Choice Milestone Recognition for consecutive years of achievement.
How the Program Works
The CFA Awards of Excellence are determined through an independent evaluation process designed to measure franchisee satisfaction and recognize top-performing franchise systems across various size and category segments.
Administered by The Portage Group, an independent third-party research firm, the program relies on confidential surveys completed by franchisees. Survey results are used to determine Franchisees’ Choice Designees, Awards of Excellence recipients, and the program’s Grand Prize winners.
The Value Beyond Recognition
Participation in the Awards of Excellence provides more than the opportunity to earn industry recognition. Through the independent franchisee survey process administered by The Portage Group, participating brands gain access to valuable feedback from the people who know their franchise system best: their franchisees.
Participating brands may order a comprehensive Benchmark Report prepared by The Portage Group. The report provides aggregated franchisee feedback and comparative benchmark results, helping franchise systems better understand franchisee satisfaction, identify strengths, uncover opportunities for improvement, and benchmark their performance against their peers.
Whether you receive a Franchisees’ Choice Designation, earn an Award of Excellence, or simply want deeper insight into your franchisee experience, the Benchmark Report can help inform future business decisions, strengthen franchise relationships, and support long-term system growth.
You can learn more about the Benchmarking Report in the Companion Guide, or contact Ozit Bittner for more information, including pricing and ordering deadlines.
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Not sure which category is right for your franchise system? Download the Companion Guide for detailed eligibility requirements, judging criteria, and submission tips.
Key Information
- Participation is free!
- Open exclusively to CFA members in good standing at the time of submission and award presentation.
- Submissions Deadline: Thursday, December 31, 2026
- Recipients will be recognized at the CFA Gala Awards Dinner during the 2027 CFA National Convention, on Sunday, April 18, at the Sheraton Fallsview in Niagara Falls, Ontario
- The top three recipients in each category (Traditional and Non-Traditional) will be recognized.
For questions about the CFA Awards Program, please contact Ozit Bittner, Senior Manager, Membership and Member Development or 647-699-5586