What Franchise - Issue 21.2

BFA ANNUAL CONFERENCE & AWARDS 2025 Louise Bruce reports on the British Franchise Association’s biggest week of the year – a time of insight, innovation and standout achievements across the UK franchise sector I N S I D E T H E nce a year, the franchising world comes together at the BFA Annual Conference, sponsored in 2025 by Citation and Constant Contact, followed by the BFA HSBC UK British Franchise Awards, to celebrate the best of the best in franchising. These two events give guests the perfect mix of education and entertainment, of networking and celebration. It’s a chance to be surrounded by colleagues from across the sector, to discuss performance, share successes and laugh at disaster stories that only other franchisors would appreciate. Conference content The conference is the educational part of the day. The aim is to tackle issues that affect every franchisor, from the smallest start-up to the largest established brands. The BFA team works hard to fill the day with learning moments, both in the main conference room and across multiple breakout sessions. Subjects ranged from finding franchisees who fit to how to coach with compassion. Driving the data message home Theo Millward, CEO of swimming franchise Swimtime and founder of software firm Franscape, invited BFA CEO PipWilkins to Donington Park race track to demonstrate how data can improve lap times – and, equally, how it can transform business performance. By tracking data from her first laps and correcting habits such as braking too early, Pip saw a 12% time improvement. 2025WorkBuzz Best Franchise Awards We were delighted to once again host the 2025WorkBuzz Best O “It would be remiss not to highlight the Personal Services category, which swept the board with 66% of all awards” Franchise Awards, sponsored by Lloyds Bank, alongside the Franchisee Satisfaction Benchmark results. These unique awards are voted for by franchisees, scoring their franchisor across Training and Support, Systems, Culture and Relationships, Leadership, Value and Rewards, and overall satisfaction. The winners were: TaxAssist (B2B), TheYouth Fairy (B2C), Kidslingo (Children’s Services), GoodOaks Homecare and Molly Maid (Management). Keynote speakers Two keynote speakers brought fresh insight to the conference. Piers Linney, co-founder of Implement AI and former Dragons’ Den investor, delivered Putting AI toWork – a session focused on harnessing AI to drive innovation, efficiency and growth. Daniel Priestley, entrepreneur, author and founder of Dent Global was the second keynote, with a very similar message: AI is here and, if you don’t start implementing it in your businesses, you run the risk of someone else copying your idea and delivering your service or product faster and cheaper than you. Time invested It’s important not to underestimate the time brands invest in preparing their award entries, or the time the expert judges dedicate to selecting the eventual winners. Despite the lengthy process, brands often say that writing their entries gives them a valuable opportunity to reflect on their achievements over the past 12 months – an exercise they consistently find both useful and worthwhile. The winners Normally, the winners are discussed individually, but this year it would be remiss not to highlight the Personal Services category, which swept the board with 66% of all awards on the night. Within this category, one sector stood out in particular: domiciliary home care. Caremark, GoodOaks Homecare and CareYourWay – who took home the Franchisor of theYear Established, Expanding and Emerging awards respectively – are all shining examples of ethical, professional franchising, and the BFA team could not be more delighted for them. 44 WHAT FRANCHISE Issue 21.2