March 25, 2025
Hi it's me Monica, the Elite Franchise 100 awards 2025 we held on the 13th March, we were in the top 10 for the Supplier of the Year award. Guess what… we won! (title is a bit of a giveaway I know)
This was the first time that we had entered an award as a company and it was so worth it. We are a small team but when we decided to enter the award everyone wanted to be a part of the night. There were six of us that went and after some near misses of fashion faux pas around the “black tie” attire, we were ready.
We headed to London early, making sure we left enough time to get some of the best burgers and coincidently a brand that we are helping grow their franchise. Smoke & Pepper was our first stop, if you ever get the chance to try their food, you have to! After finishing up our food we headed into central London to our Airbnb. We are a company driven by coffee and tea, so we grabbed a sit down and waited for one of the guys to join. Then it was off to the Airbnb, getting ready and looking dapper is always fun and this night was no exception.
Energy and vibe levels were high and we were so excited. I was buzzing and the closer we got to the venue the more my excitement grew. When we arrived we started bumping into franchising friends and headed to the bar for a drink and catch up with some of them. This was it, my excitement and energy levels were high, as you know by now my favourite thing is catching up with franchise friends.
The awards weren’t far away now and we all headed to the main area. A sea of franchise friends, hugs and hellos were flying around. We were all ushered to find our seats in the main room. The lights came down and oh no, a video started to play… Now, I knew this was going to happen but it didn’t stop my blushing cheeks from showing when the embarrassing clip came on of me on a treadmill.
The awards night was in full flow after hearing a few insightful as interesting speeches. After dinner had been served (of which I was too nervous to eat most of with all the butterflies in my stomach). As always with industry awards, some incredible stories and amazing businesses that we were all able to celebrate with. As the awards drew on, our award was coming up and we were nervous. The category was announced… the summary sounded an awful lot like us and then the winners… ATLAS MAPPING! I turned to everyone and the smiles we had for each other were beaming, how amazing. Stuart and I headed to the stage to say thank you. Now, when I say I was excited and buzzing that is an understatement because I was shaking. Up on stage I felt like I was thanking everyone looking not too dissimilar to the Cheshire Cat.
We headed off stage with our award and were escorted to have our pictures taken with a short interview. I know I didn’t stop smiling (more than usual which seems impossible)! With only a couple of awards left it was nearing the end of the awards section. After all of the awards had been announced it was time to celebrate and congratulate our friends.
After many congratulations it was time for the after party, stop one, the underground club. A glass of Prosecco and some bad dance moves in, the guys and I had decided (after hearing about a luscious rooftop bar at the start of the night) to head to the rooftop bar. After a bit of a wait we were seated and what do you know, you could see St Paul’s just off the balcony. A perfect end to an INCREDIBLE night! Loads of laughs and some lavish cocktails to celebrate together as a team.
I am still buzzing and not much can bring me down from cloud nine after such an amazing night and result. Thank you again to everyone, we really do try our best for all of you! Till next time…
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