Karim Jivraj, managing director of Queensway, and owner of multiple Starbucks franchises, has won the ‘HSBC Best In Class Multi-Unit Leader’ award at the recent bfa HSBC British Franchise Awards run by the British Franchise Association and sponsored by HSBC Bank. This is the only category open to non bfa members.

Queensway were approached to be one of the first Starbucks UK franchisees in 2015, following their success with KFC both in the UK and Europe as well as their 50+ year history of franchising with hotel brands including Ramada, Sheraton and Holiday Inn.

An active growth partner for Starbucks, Queensway currently own 23 Starbucks stores which employs over 300 members of staff, with further growth plans for their Starbucks operations over the next few years”

In the ‘HSBC Best In Class Multi-Unit Leader’ category, judges were looking for franchisees that had built large franchising portfolios and a central, managed function to support. A franchisee with a clear passion for business, who was a master of managing management teams who had developed trusted relationships with their franchisor(s) based on success and commitment to the brand, enabling them to obtain expansion opportunities and have contributed to the growth and/or development of the overall-franchise operation. Judges were looking for franchisees to articulate the strategy that had enabled sustainable growth across their portfolios. Queensway ticked all the boxes for judges.

Described by many as the ‘Oscars’ of the franchising world, the bfa HSBC British Franchise Awards were held at a glittering black-tie event at the Vox hotel in Birmingham, which was attended by over 400 of the biggest names in the UK franchising industry.

On winning the award Karim said: “It feels truly amazing to have won this award. I’m so proud of all the people that sit behind me. My family, my team, my franchisor, my suppliers, and HSBC. It is them that I have to thank for this amazing award. As a business, we are excited to grow our people in line with our growing estate. We want to promote from within, design career trajectories for our bright stars and continue to give our teams opportunities to challenge themselves and achieve their personal and professional aspirations.”

Speaking on the night, Pip Wilkins, CEO of the British Franchising Association said: “Huge congratulation to Karim and his team from Queensway for winning the ‘HSBC Best In Class Multi-Unit Leader’ award tonight. He is making a huge success of running his Starbucks businesses and has ambitious plans for growth; it is obvious that the people in his organisation are at the heart of everything they do, and we are so glad that his efforts have been recognised tonight.”

She continued: “As the oldest franchise association in the United Kingdom, we work hard to maintain the standards of ethical franchising in this country. Franchising contributes over £17 billion to the country’s GDP and provides employment to over 700,000 people. Franchise operations are perfectly built to withstand the rigours of even the harshest financial storms, relying as they do on following tried and tested business models. We send congratulations to all our winners and thank them for upholding the standards of the association and being such outstanding examples of the best that franchising has to offer.”

Gillian Morris, Head of Franchising, HSBC, said: ‘Choosing a winner from the many entries we received this year was not easy, but it gives us at HSBC a great insight into the health and prosperity of franchise businesses in the UK. They are strong, innovative, brave and resilient and we applaud them for their hard work and achievements. Tonight, we were treated to the crème de la crème of the British franchise industry and we could not be prouder to sponsor these awards. We wish them all well for 2023 and look forward to meeting new franchisors and franchisees at the awards next year.”