Clean Planet Hawke's Bay founder Roy Boonen and field manager Nicola Moore have both scooped big awards. Photo / Warren Buckland
Clean Planet Hawke's Bay founder Roy Boonen and field manager Nicola Moore have both scooped big awards. Photo / Warren Buckland
When Roy Boonen started his cleaning franchise Clean Planet Hawke's Bay over a decade ago, he wanted to introduce a clean and green business to the industry.
The franchise has grown leaps and bounds since - with almost 200 commercial contracts including 38 schools across the Bay - and washonoured this week with two prestigious awards.
Boonen and colleague Nicola Moore scooped the two awards in their respective categories at the nationwide Westpac NZ Franchise Awards held over Zoom on Sunday.
The event celebrates the best of the best when it comes to franchises and franchisees across the country.
Everything from cafés and convenience stores, to cleaners and hair salons, to trades and property maintenance businesses were vying for the awards, making the achievement all the more impressive.
Nicola Moore and Roy Boonen, from Clean Planet Hawke's Bay, after winning their awards. Photo / Warren Buckland
Another Hawke's Bay company also picked up a top award, Driving Miss Daisy.
Driving Miss Daisy started in Hawke's Bay and now boasts franchises across the country and offers "companion" driving services including for the elderly and the disabled.
It won the Franchise System of the Year Award on Sunday.
Boonen said it was a big achievement for his company to win two top awards - himself taking out the Regional Master Franchisee of the Year Award while Moore won the Field Manager of the Year Award.
"To have Nicola and I both winning our categories against the rest of the country, I did not think that would happen," he said. "It is very cool."
He said he essentially bought the Hawke's Bay territory from Clean Planet to start his own franchise 11 years ago, at which stage he saw a gap in the industry for clean and green products.
"It is not unusual now [for cleaning companies to use green products] but 11 years ago it was certainly more bleach and ammonia."
The rise of his franchise has seen it grow to 37 franchisees, the bulk of which are families who have moved to New Zealand and started their own cleaning businesses under the brand.
"A number of our families have gone from renting to owning their first home."
Boonen said seeing people realise those goals and also getting to know all the franchisees was the highlight of his job.
Moore said she loved working for the company for the past two years, including as a point of contact with all the franchisees, and was a self-confessed clean freak.
Having moved here from Ireland, she said she can understand what many of the franchisees were going through as immigrants.
"Having an understanding of how tough it is to come into another country, I feel like I can help them with that and support them."
There are over 590 franchised brands operating in New Zealand and the awards celebrate the very best. The winners in each category win a trophy and the title.
The two biggest awards went to CrestClean (Westpac Supreme Franchise System of the Year) and Paramount Services Christchurch (Westpac Supreme Franchisee of the Year).
