The CFA’s 2024 Grand Prize Awards of Excellence winners share their secrets to success
Want to know what makes an award-winning franchise system in Canada? Just follow the example of these Grand Prize Awards of Excellence winners.
Each year at the CFA National Convention, the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) awards two brands the Awards of Excellence Grand Prize distinction, based on feedback from their franchisees and as a reflection of their high standards across leadership, business planning, and franchisee relationships. This year, the CFA was pleased to present this honour to Willowbrae Academy in the Traditional Franchise category (those with brick-and-mortar locations) and MaidPro in the Non- Traditional Category (usually mobile or home-based businesses).
Franchise Canada sat down with representatives from the two companies to discuss their approach to training and supporting franchisees, what they attribute to the satisfaction of their location owners, where they see the brand going in 2024 and beyond, and how other franchise systems can attain the coveted title.
Grand Prize, Traditional Franchisee, Willowbrae Academy
Take a quick look around and you’ll notice there are plenty of franchise brands within the tutoring and education space. What sets Willowbrae Academy apart from the rest is its mix of sterling franchisee support and a program that delivers results to all types of learners. And clearly the results reap rewards. Willowbrae won the Awards of Excellence Grand Prize in the Traditional Franchise category at the 2024 National Convention.
One of the main reasons that Willowbrae has managed to capture the hearts and minds of its customers and their children is its willingness to embrace novel methods of teaching, with a heavy emphasis on up-and-coming high-tech applications.
“Childcare as a segment has been one of the slowest to adapt [to changing] technology,” explains Shawn Pattison, president and principal of Willowbrae Academy. “Traditionally, it’s typically seen as a very low-tech environment. You know, you rent some space, or you have a house or a basement, and you furnish it with some toys and some learning materials and a couple of nice carpets.”
Luckily, Wayne Cochrane, the founder of Willowbrae and its current director of technology, has been leading the charge in bringing STEM-based programming into its curriculum. This allows the company to stay competitive in the supplementary education sector while delivering the quality of lessons they are experiencing in the classroom, all while utilizing technology that the students are already familiar with.
Case in point: Willowbrae launched its proprietary communications software called Braeview back in 2011—long before many similar companies had hopped on board. From there, the SEEDS program—which stands for Standard of Excellence, Education and Resources, Exercise and Life Skills, Delivery and Operations, and Safety and Security—was brought into the mix, stressing the brand’s commitment to delivering 360-degree quality. SEEDS then became an integral part of the Creative Kids program in 2015, a facet of the curriculum that focused on “artistic and cultural activity,” shares Pattison. Later, in 2017, Willowbrae launched the Young Scholars program to boost literacy, math, and science development.
Keeping up with the fast-evolving world of technology in education wasn’t a “do or don’t” decision for Willowbrae—it was a question of when.
“It’s not just our business: parents are changing as well,” says Pattison. “What was cool, what was accepted, and what was considered standard 12 years ago, 13 years ago, is a lot different.”
Kathleen Gilgan can personally speak to Willowbrae’s enduring nature: she was one of the first to own a franchise location, having thrown the doors open on her Willowbrae franchise in 2012, only two years after the company’s first academy opened. And, as luck would have it, she stumbled into the business itself by sheer happenstance.
“My husband is a Taekwondo instructor and Wayne Cochrane was his student,” remembers Gilgan. “And at the time, I just happened to be looking for an investment. I wanted something that, once it was up and running, I could be relatively hands-off and not need to be on site all the time.”
After meeting with Cochrane, discussing the ins and outs of the system, and recognizing the quality and differentiators that Willowbrae offered when compared to other franchises in the same category, Gilgan leaped at the opportunity to open her own centre. And she was blown away by the level of support she was offered at every step. “It was everything from finding the site, understanding the financial model, helping get your business plan written and in place. I mean, as a new business owner, these things can be very daunting.”
Now with more than 11 years of Willowbrae ownership under her belt, Gilgan is the biggest proponent of the franchise. And the 2024 CFA Award Grand Prize win only solidifies what she’s been preaching.
“It’s a lot of work, and it looks easy,” says Pattison on what makes an award-winning franchise. “But if you’ve ever watched a gymnast, a world-class gymnast, and they’re on the floor and they’re doing flips, they’re making it look effortless. And I think that when you look at these really high-performing companies, these high-performing franchises, they do make it look easy because there’s experience in the background. There’s a lot of dedication and thought that goes into whatever they’re implementing.”
In other words, Willowbrae is a childcare company “where children come to grow” (which also happens to be the brand’s motto), at least according to those like Pattison and Gilgan who know it best.
Learn more about franchising with Willowbrae Academy
Grand Prize, Non-Traditional Franchisee, MaidPro
Having access to people’s homes, often when the owner isn’t there, is a huge responsibility. This duty of care is at the heart of the residential cleaning industry, and a belief that the team behind MaidPro, the 2024 CFA Awards of Excellence Grand Prize winner in the Non-Traditional Franchise category, takes very seriously.
Just ask Emily Estes. Estes has been a brand leader for MaidPro for two years, and with good reason: her 14-year history with the company had her dabbling in everything from consumer sales to coaching and has given her an all-encompassing view of the operations.
“It’s been a wild ride,” she says with a laugh, “but I really do love the brand. We’re a good business to be in because everybody needs their house cleaned.”
As legend goes, MaidPro’s founder was desperate to find a high-quality cleaning service after his cat was accidentally locked in a bathroom—without a litter box, unfortunately—by a cleaner.
“It was kind of a lightbulb moment for him,” explains Estes. The incident set him on a path to develop a cleaning company with significantly higher attention to customer care and experience as a driving factor. “We really want to know who our customers are, we want to know their pets and their families and their cleaning specifications. We really just want to take care of our clients.”
MaidPro opened its first location in 1991, and six years later, the company entered the franchise industry. MaidPro began franchising in Canada in 2009, and the brand now has 250 locations across North America. And its presence is growing, especially north of the border, which is why Estes says the MaidPro team was so pleased to hear about their Grand Prize placement.
To stand out in a saturated market, MaidPro has made above-and-beyond franchisee support a cornerstone of its business model.
“It’s not easy to start a business,” she says. “And I think that’s why people look into franchising, because there is an outline and guidance, and there is somebody with you every step of the way. We’ve really worked on perfecting it over the past several decades.”
What sets MaidPro apart is an extensive proprietary approach to its service standards. “We have what we call a 49-point checklist,” explains Estes. “It’s something we do every time we come out to a client’s home, and it includes a really thorough cleaning of each room in the home. We list out each task, so you know what we’re doing.”
Plus, MaidPro offers a 24-hour guarantee. If any aspect of the cleaning process isn’t up to the customer’s standards, they can approach the brand and they will make it right within a day. “It helps keep us accountable to our own standards,” notes Estes. “We want to build that value and build that trust with our clients.”
For its devoted franchisees, the brand offers marketing support to help local owners reach potential clients in their own backyards. A custom platform, built on the popular and robust customer management system Salesforce, also ensures that MaidPro owners are set up for success, right from the start.
“It’s a one-stop shop,” says Estes. “You’re able to give an estimate, schedule a clean, send out a follow-up email, assign an employee to a job. I think it’s a huge differentiator because we try to make it as seamless as possible for our franchisees to run a very efficient business.”
The importance of this recognition from the CFA isn’t lost on MaidPro, maintains Estes, and is proof that the company is moving in the right direction. In addition to numerous other recent accolades, including landing on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 and receiving its Top DEI, Top Multi-Unit, and Top Franchises Under $150K designations this year, winning Grand Prize with the CFA will only push the company to strive harder to maintain and even improve the quality of its offerings.
“We’re an established brand. Sixty percent of our franchisees have been in business for over six years, and forty percent for over ten.” With franchisees that are in it for the long haul, and Estes’ clear vision for the future, it’s clear that MaidPro will be polishing up its services for years to come.
Learn more about franchising with MaidPro
