Kwik Fix becomes finalist in 2003 Franchise System of the Year Awards
Australia's leading automotive paint and plastic repair franchise, Kwik Fix International, has been awarded the Franchise Council of Australia's (FCA) prestigious Franchise System of the Year award at a presentation ceremony in front of 600 of Australia's biggest franchise brands.
The presentation for best Home-based and Mobile system (21-100 outlets) was made on the closing night of the FCA's annual national conference, held at the Gold Coast recently.
Kwik Fix CEO Jason Gehrke received the award on behalf of all Kwik Fix franchisees, staff and owners, saying that the award recognised the truly outstanding achievements of the business over the past 18 months, which included a major leap in overall sales growth, an increase in franchise numbers, and several new business innovations.
"Year on year our sales are up 20% across the board, with most franchisees recording consistent increases in turnover and market penetration," said Gehrke.
"Our relaunched Franchise Advisory Council has been instrumental in the implementation of new marketing innovations, and we have increased repair efficiencies through the move toward laptop computers in all vans, plus mobile shelters for our franchisees. Additionally, we resolved our dispute with the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and brought that full circle by actually co-presenting a session with them at this conference which was recognised by those who attended as the best session of the conference."
Gehrke said that Kwik Fix's award win was no overnight success - the franchise had entered the awards four times before winning.
"We have been in franchising for nearly 10 years. We are committed to our sector, we are committed to our franchisees, and we are committed to growing our business," he said.
"For this reason we have been actively involved in the Franchise Council of Australia, and have entered the awards every year for the last five years.
"The process of addressing each of the awards questions is actually quite exhausting and requires us to review our business from an outsider's point of view. Each year it just gets better and better."
The award win is the latest in a spate of successes for Kwik Fix. Earlier in the same month Kwik Fix CEO Jason Gehrke was presented by the FCA with a special award for his contribution to franchising over the past eight years, and had earlier been appointed to the ACCC's Franchise Consultative Panel and the Australian Bankers Association's Small Business Forum.
And just two days after the FCA conference and awards presentation, Gehrke was a special guest speaker at the Malaysian Franchise Association's conference, and met with a number of Malaysian federal government dignitaries.
"Kwik Fix continues to go from strength to strength, but we can never claim to be successful unless our franchisees are, and our mission is to help them run truly great businesses," said Gehrke.
Ends - September 2004.
|
