Every year, the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) shines a spotlight on franchise excellence with its prestigious awards program, celebrating the industry’s shining stars. In this special Excellence in Franchising issue, we celebrate the best and the brightest of 2023’s franchise landscape. Join us as we honour those who have demonstrated unwavering commitment to the franchisor-franchisee relationship, the very heart and soul of the franchise business model.
Exceptional, hardworking franchisees are the driving force behind every successful franchise. In the cover story, we showcase the 2023 Franchisee of the Year award winners, including Gold winners Annalisa Cilla of Scholars Education (Traditional Franchises category), and Brad Wheeler of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK Canada (Non-Traditional Franchises category), along with the silver and bronze winners. Read all about these award-winning franchisees’ personal journeys and get their guidance on achieving success in the franchise world.
For an in-depth conversation with the Gold winners, be sure to listen to the exclusive bonus interview on the Franchise Canada Chats podcast.
Next, we take a look at brands that won the Awards of Excellence Grand Prize: Inspiration Learning Center (Traditional Franchises) and EverLine Coatings and Services(Non-Traditional Franchises). The people behind these brands reflect on their success, highlighting what it takes to maintain strong franchisor-franchisee relationships year after year. Check out our full roundup of Award of Excellence and Recognition Award winners, plus recipients of the Franchisees’ Choice Designation and brands that have achieved accolades and reached CFA membership milestones.
The award-winning franchises just keep coming! Get introduced to senior director of people Amy Silverstein, whose support was key to the introduction of DEI and engagement-led programs at Pizza Pizza, this year’s Diversity & Inclusion Champion Award winner. And learn all about how the Outstanding Corporate Citizen Award-winning system Mary Brown’s supports BGC Canada and provides disaster relief.
Our focus on excellence in franchising continues throughout the issue, including a spotlight on the successful first year of multi-unit LiceSquad.com franchisee Malika Rezgani. If you’re into nature, you’ll want to follow Wild Birds Unlimited franchisee Sarah Smith through a typical day. Then, get inspired by a young couple’s experience owning a Real Property Management franchise in our next generation in franchising article. Plus, get your feet wet in franchising with an emerging system as you learn about British Swim School’s presence in Canada.
We also take a closer look at family-friendly service franchises that offer activities and instruction and give you the opportunity to spend some time learning about car repair and upkeep in our automotive franchises feature. For legal and marketing advice from the experts and learn the basics of building a business plan. And finally, if you’re curious about franchise resales, you’ve come to the right place. Check out our franchise resales case study on an Express Employment Professionals franchisee.
We proudly present the freshest faces in the CFA’s roster—the newest member brands to join our ranks in the past year. Their decision to join the CFA signifies their dedication to achieving franchise excellence. Maybe we’ll see some of their names among the award winners in the years ahead!
For more examples of franchise excellence, continue your franchise journey at FranchiseCanada.Online. Here you’ll find resources that can help guide you on your own path to franchise success, including expert advice, videos, podcast episodes, and more. You can also visit LookforaFranchise.ca, the CFA’s online member directory, to search and connect directly with CFA member brands. And don’t forget to follow the CFA on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
While this issue highlights the latest superstars of the franchise industry, remember that the people in these success stories started out just like you: eager to go into business for themselves, but not by themselves. We hope these stories inspire you to take the next steps toward making your own business ownership dreams come true!