Bethlehem franchise a winner for third year running

Bhwana Magan, The Coffee Club field support manager, franchisee Ivy Joe and Westpac's Simon Power.

The Bethlehem arm of the Coffee Club has won the Westpac Franchisee of the Year award for the third successive year. Coffee Club Bethlehem also won the Food and Beverage - Best Franchisee sub-category award.

The annual awards were announced at an event in Auckland on Saturday attended by more than 230 members of the Franchise Association of NZ and guests.

The judges said the decision was challenging, but said franchisees Ivy and William Joe had stepped up performance to yet another level.

"By combining a proven comprehensive franchise system with innovative ideas they continually retain and expand their customer base," said the judges, who were also impressed by the way the couple gave back to the community.

"Although challenged by their physical location, TCC Bethlehem has strategically built strong customer relationships to continue to grow their business and deliver great results," said the judges.

The couple took the philosophy of TCC as "the place where we meet", listened to their customers and used innovative approaches to build a loyal customer base, resulting in the highest VIP membership across TCC.

"With the franchisee stepping out of the day-to-day operations, the Bethlehem team have been empowered to take on more responsibility for driving business success, and the positive results reinforce their efforts."

Ivy Joe told the Bay of Plenty Times that Coffee Club Bethlehem's consistent awards success was a result of three key factors.

"The main thing is you have to follow the system," she said. "You have to be passionate about what you are doing. And the third thing is the people, customers and staff. We have such a great team and they all work hard together for the business."

Wespac's Simon Power said franchising was a key driver of growth.

"As the industry has grown in sophistication, events such as these serve as a platform to identify strong franchise systems for our business customers and create marketing opportunities for our franchisors' clients."