The finale to the Cafe2U National Conference again saw an exciting evening of awards presented to those Cafe2U franchise partners who have achieved incredible standards through 2012.

Following some exciting pre-dinner entertainment from BigBeatz which certainly sorted out the Baristas from the drummers!, the scene was set for the awards to be presented.

Hosted by Jon Skinner, and with Laura Macrae, (Cafe2U Aberdeen) present to talk about her fabulous trip to Rome following her win in last years awards, the guests waited to discover this years winners.

The Cafe2U Franchise Partner of the Year is always fiercely contested, and this years winner, Iain from Chelmsford, won a trip to the fabulous city of Barcelona! The award is scored over a 12 month period, through a combination of field visits, contributions to the franchise, development of the business, and barista skills, and the competition this year was closer than ever before. Iain explained how the support of the franchise has meant so much to him

“The level of support is so rare in the business world, as most people starting in a business are on their own to make mistakes and struggle. With the Cafe2U system you are following a proven formula and benefiting from the wisdom of those that have gone before.”

Iain is obviously very proud of his achievement, “I was over the moon to achieve this award, this was my goal from the very start of the business and I set my target for this year. Building any business is never easy and we all face our personal challenges whilst developing our own franchises, but with the wisdom of the franchise structure we can overcome adversities.”

Tim Shaw, Cafe2U Reading West, and Stephen Mcarthy Cafe2U Wakefield, received supplier partner awards from Bolling Coffee, and Brakes respectively in recognition of the purchases they had both made from these Cafe2U supply partners. Tim and Stephen both received bottles of champagne to celebrate with!

Cafe2U is a multi award winner for the standard of its Barista’s, and for its coffee blend, so no surprise that the Barista of the Year, is a very hotly contested award inside Cafe2U. The winner of the 2012 award was Antonio Petrosino, (Cafe2U Merton) who also won the title of “Best Cappuccino in the UK” from the BSA during 2012. A very happy Antonio said” “It’s a great honour to win this Award. Making coffee is a craft and cannot be learned alone – immense thanks goes to my Cafe2U team, the BSA and my customers. Coffee is my passion.”

Antonio won because he consistently demonstrated all the attributes of the model Barista making some of the best coffee the team tasted in 2012.

The Supreme Bean Award is usually presented to the franchise partner who has made the best start in business in the preceding 12 months. Jon Hinde (Cafe2U Preston) was modest in claiming he didn’t expect to win, as his statistics of serving over 120 cups per day, and sometimes over 145 would be impressive in any business let alone one only 6 months old! Jon spoke to the conference earlier in the day and explained some of his tips for managing the queue at busy periods.

Jon commented on his win “It has helped immensely having a franchise structure to work within. The training program and launch period enabled me to quickly learn how to effectively run a business and reach a level of coffee sales that I would not otherwise have been able to achieve as a lone operator. It has also enabled me to have access to a number of other franchise partners’ and ongoing support from which to gain advice and ideas to help continue to grow my business”

During the evening Julie Andrew (Cafe2 Scunthorpe) was thrilled to win an O2 Blackberry donated by Cafe2U mobile phone partner, Signal Telecom, for her efforts in a thrilling game of “heads and tails” bingo!