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The Belle Casa Franchisee Awards took place at the Kettering Park Hotel on January 8. Before announcing the winners, managing director Peter Dalton outlined what had been achieved in 2010 by this dynamic domestic cleaning company. He said: “When 2010 came with the new words of the credit crunch, I for one was very concerned with regard to our business. We did think at the time that we would lose some partners due to the downturn in the economy. This was to prove me wrong; we have been delighted with results from areas that have just gone from strength to strength.”

SOUL SEARCHING

He told the company’s franchisees: “With a little more hard work and a bit of soul searching, you made it happen on every territory. Appointments are up by over 17 per cent on 2009.”

Leading the field in appointments for Belle Casa is Barry Turpin of Cambridge with 446, followed by Sue Hargreaves of Oxford on 276 and Christine Bevan of High Wycombe on 250.

Continued Dalton: “We also came to the conclusion that taking on new partners would be difficult in 2010, but again I was proved wrong. We conducted 26 interviews last year and decided to take on just 10 franchisees. We will continue only to have the best available people to slot into territories that we have, as it has always been and will remain the fact Belle Casa will only have 85 franchisees in the UK.

“We will never go down the route of other cleaning companies, boasting that they have hundreds of franchisees. We believe that this was the right decision for us at Belle Casa, as it enables us to have the right partners in the right areas.”

Dalton then went on to welcome new franchisees to the company, and presented bouquets of flowers to his accountant’s and lawyer’s wives. And so on to the highlight of the evening: the Belle Casa Franchisee Awards.

“Selecting the winners was difficult - right up until yesterday we simply could not decide,” explained Dalton. “When you look at some of our top partners - Barry Turpin of Cambridge, Chris Bevan of High Wycombe, Sue Hargreaves of Oxford, Sue Hunt of Edinburgh - it would be fair to say that the finalist should come from one of these four, but these franchisees are very experienced in our business. They know that we have so much respect for what they have achieved.

“But we have decided to go with partners who we know are striving to achieve the same as the four already mentioned. We also decided to recognise two franchisees who we believe have been quite simply outstanding.

“The runner-up has been without doubt 100 per cent focused on the business. He started at the most difficult time and has been out there week in, week out pounding the streets. He has spoken to many new franchisees this year and has been 100 per cent loyal to Belle Casa.

“He joined us when he knew this was the last throw of the dice. We took him on because we believed he could do it. We also believe that he would be in the top 10 franchisees in the next few years. So it gives me great pleasure to present a cheque for £500 to 2010 runner-up Richard Pragell of Belle Casa Sheffield.”

OUTSTANDING

Dalton described the Belle Casa Franchisee of the Year as “just amazing”. He added: “When joining us, they were trained and then disappeared for three months. We simply did not know what to do, but every time they phoned us they would tell us not to worry, that they were moving and would like to be living on their territory. Since the move, they simply have been outstanding in all departments.

“A few months ago I received a case of wine in my office. I thought it was a promotional case for which I would be charged for later. This case of wine sat in my office for a number of days. I then opened it to find a lovely note from this franchisee. “It said: ‘Thank you so much for getting me out of the corporate world - have a drink on us’. So it gives me enormous pleasure to present a cheque for a £1,000 to Mike and Andrea Woods of Belle Casa Tunbridge Wells.”

With a lavish four-course dinner and the Bee Gees tribute band to dance the night away to, the fun had only just begun