Snap celebrated its franchises with an awards night at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art, recognising a year in which five stores surpassed the $2m sales mark.
At the event Peter Sinodinos, CEO, Snap Franchises presented the 2020 brand vision, a new strategy aiming to provide franchise owners with opportunities for long term growth and sustainability.
Snap is the country’s biggest print franchise group, with some 130 stores, and it operates in several overseas countries including China and Ireland.
Sinodinos says “We are moving forward and developing firmly. I would like to thank everyone for attending this event and congratulate all Owners nominated and of course, our award winners."
The Paddy Thompson award, Snap’s Oscar equivalent, was won by Edwin Huang and Jean Ling, owners of the Waitara franchise, and husband and wife.
Edwin Huang, managing director, Snap Waitara says, “It is a big deal and an honour. The award is for franchises that are performing well in driving the business model and providing quality service to customers.
“We are a relatively new franchise, we are coming up to three years now. When we started, we turned the business around and worked across not just in print, but also other aspects such as design and marketing. We signed up new clients and were able to bring back old clients. We are working not just as a printer, but we also work as a marketing service, we help address direct needs and consult and provide strategy.
“The interesting thing is, we have customers coming from referrals, which means our current customers must be satisfied in our work and that is comforting to know.
“We are proud, that my wife and I were able to get the award but we did not expect it. Other stores have been in the network for ten plus years and we are relatively new in comparison. But we are happy to be recognised for our hard work.”
There were 200 guests in attendance at the MCA on Sydney Harbour, including franchise owners and their partners, team members, Snap Board members, as well as Premier Partners: Bloomtools, CMYKhub, EFI, Konica Minolta, Fuji Xerox, Ball & Doggett, Gallagher, PHE, Ricoh and PHE.
Guest speakers included David Koch, Robyn Moore and Kieren Perkins.
Al Babicka and Peter Pawlezig of Snap West Melbourne take home the Hall of Fame award, with Jason O’Connor of Snap Eastwood receiving the Murray Read Smith Lifetime Achievement award. Barry and Mychelle Christofides of Snap Wollongong was recognised with the Regional Sales Achievement award.
Richard Cook of the Circular Quay franchise, Bruce Jacobs and Malcolm Gasper of Wynard, Babicka and Pawlezig of West Melbourne, Judd Duhigg and Simon Morcom of Queen St, Brisbane; and O’Connor and Lisa Dupen of Eastwood were all recognised achieving sales for more than $2m.
Hatem and Jenny El-Ekiabi of Snap Wetherill Park/Smithfield won the Sales Achievement award for the range of $850,000-$2m, Stephen Wu of Snap Prahran took home the award for $550,000-$850,000 and Todd Bache of Snap Lonsdale snagged the achievement of $250,000-$550,000.
Guz Perez of Snap Brisbane, Queen Street has taken home Sales Person of the Year and Rob Mihalic of Snap Homebush Bay received the Community Care Award for his work with Transplant Australia Football Club. Richard Cook of Circular Quay and Docklands was named the Multi Centre Owner of the Year and the New Franchise Owner of the Year award was given to Dianne and Matthew White of Robina.
The Movers & Shakers Awards for the states were given to Rahul Daga of the Darlinghurst store for NSW/ACT, Simon Morcom and Judd Duhigg of La Trobe Street, Melbourne for VIC/TAS, Shane and Kristie Bertolotti of Dalby for QLD, Phil and Ann Angel of Albert Park of Albert Park for SA and Gary Sagisson and Jane Coffey of Armadale/Forrestdale for WA.
Snap also recognised Shane and Kristie Bertolotti of Snap Dalby for their store’s 10 year anniversary, along with John and Sue Quick of the Clovelly Park centre for 25 years.
Snap also gave out certificates for its marketing franchise council of the past year, awarding Rob Mihalic of Homebush Bay for NSW/ACT, Libby Pollard of Geelong for VIC/TAS, Shane Bertolotti of Toowoomba for QLD, John Quick of Clovelly Park for SA and Gary Sargisson of Armadale/Forestdale for WA.
The company’s premier partners provided an expo throughout the day, showcasing demonstrations of new technology, products and services, with Konica Minolta displaying a virtual reality activation.
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