A 27-year old who started out as a Domino’s pizza delivery boy earning £3.20 an hour and now owns four stores, has scooped top prize in the 2006 British Franchise Association Franchisee of the Year Awards, sponsored by HSBC Bank and Express Newspapers.

Beating off stiff competition Antony Tagliamonti - who lives in Woodford Green and runs stores in his home town, Gants Hill, Chingford and Borehamwood - was presented with the Gold Winner’s trophy and an HSBC cheque for £5,000 at a glittering gala dinner held on 5th October at Birmingham’s Motorcycle Museum.

Speaking immediately after the Awards, Antony – the youngest ‘Franchisee of the Year’ in the history of the Awards – said, “This is one of the proudest moments of my life and terrific recognition for my team who have worked so hard to achieve this success.”

The bfa Franchisee of the Year Awards – the highlight of National Franchise Week (2-9 October) – were launched in April as a celebration of the best-performing franchisees in a booming industry worth an annual £10 billion a year and employing over 360,000 people in the UK.

The judging panel, chaired by President of the bfa, Sir Bernard Ingham, was looking for franchisees who could show how they have achieved ‘Success Through Support’ – the theme for this year’s Awards - by illustrating how their franchisor’s support structure has been instrumental to their success.

At 17, Antony was a part-time delivery boy for Domino’s Pizza with high ambitions - he wanted to own the store!

Just two years later, his wish came true and since then he has added three more outlets and employs 120 staff. His sales are also 25% above the company average and his stores rank amongst the top 10 in Europe for sales growth.

Just how Antony swapped his 50cc delivery moped for a top of the range BMW Convertible is all down to providing a quality product, backed by a ‘hands-on’ approach and fun atmosphere – which has made him the youngest and most successful franchisee in the Domino’s network.

But he’s the first to admit that success did not come overnight, and may not have come at all without the ongoing support of a strong franchisor. To Antony, the relationship is rather like a marriage, built around hard work and trust and based on effective communication, individual freedom and a respect for boundaries.

At the same time he benefits from the support of a bigger organisation in areas such as financial advice, training, marketing, product development and innovative services, such as online and interactive TV ordering.

Franchising works, he claims, when both parties realise that greater combined effort leads to greater individual rewards.

Giving something back to the system is also an important part of franchising, according to Antony. He acts as a mentor for the network and invites potential franchisees to see how his business works. An enthusiastic advocate of franchising, he has promoted the concept through media features and by using his business as a case study on business websites.

In second place...

The Silver Prize and £3000 cheque went to Martin and Debbie Beanlands who run a Chem-Dry franchise in Earby. They had travelled the world for 18 years before leaving the RAF, and needed a new future in civvy street.

Martin and Debbie launched the carpet cleaning franchise from their garden shed and a year later, the couple had beaten their projected forecasts by 50%. They attribute their achievement to ‘following the Chem-Dry plan’ and calling the business development team for help and advice – sometimes on a daily basis.

They were not on their own, and had used the franchise formula to help them build up their knowledge of the industry and acquire the necessary skills to run a successful business.

Now they have a 10,000 square foot purpose built industrial unit situated in Earby, directly on the Yorkshire/Lancashire border, nine vans, 8 franchise areas and 14 dedicated, hard-working members of staff.

And in third place...

The Bronze Prize was scooped by Peter and Abigail Atkinson - the Belvoir Sleaford franchisees – who went home with a cheque for £2000.

38-year old Peter and his wife gave up secure jobs and re-mortgaged their house to buy the franchise, a property letting agency, in 2004. Within one year the enterprising couple had increased the number of properties from 54 to 140, tripled the business’s income and been named Belvoir’s ‘New Franchisees of the Year’.

With no experience of the lettings industry, Peter and Abigail faced a huge challenge when they took on the small franchise, but they identified Sleaford as a prime area for expansion and quickly took on board all the training and support offered by the Belvoir franchise network.

Enrolling on an intensive three-week course, they immediately applied what they had learnt to the business. They employed an experienced property manager, invested in new signage to create a stronger image for the company and took out a weekly full colour ad in the local newspaper. Peter’s sales experience helped attract new clients and his energy and commitment have established a reputation for reliability that is driving the business forward.

Click here to read more about the 10 Franchisee of the Year Finalists’ success stories.