At this year's annual conference Robert McKenna, franchisee of the University of Ulster, Belfast Campus, was awarded the prestigious the title of Franchisee of the Year 2011; an award eligible to any streat cafe that has been open for at least 18 months. Robert’s outlet excelled in all award criteria; in their 5th year of business they have continued to show business growth, with year on year sales to date 9% ahead of last year.
In a very busy outlet Robert has continued to improve his control on gross margin and labour percentages, and with a zero turnover of staff his well trained and customer focused team provides some of the highest levels of customer service in the network, regularly achieving top marks in mystery shopper audits.
At a time when communicating with our customers through social media seems to be the norm Robert's innovation has generated more sales through this messaging and the development of a loyal online base.