Loja do Condomínio, Bestravel, and Mercado das Viagens were the big winners of the Franchising Awards, which recognized the best franchising brands in terms of the support provided to their networks.
The initiative by Negócios & Franchising magazine awarded franchise brands with the Best Network Support, Expansion, Internationalization, and Social Media Strategy. The awards ceremony took place last Monday, December 4th, at the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lisbon.
In the origins of the Franchising Awards, the distinction of brands with this award takes on special significance as it results from an independent survey conducted by Q21, which listens to the franchisees of each network to understand which brands offer the most support to their franchisees.
In the L category, for networks with more than 50 units, the first prize in the Best Network Support Brand category was once again awarded to Loja do Condomínio, the second to McDonald's, and the third again to RE/MAX. In the M category, referring to brands with between 16 and 50 units, the winners were Bestravel (winner), CHARIB Gestão de Condomínios (2nd place), and Soluções Ideais (3rd place). In the S category, which evaluates brands with up to 15 units, first place was once again awarded to Mercado das Viagens, followed by CHARIB Imobiliária (2nd place, as in the previous year) and Mylced (3rd place).
The General Expansion, National Expansion, and Retail Expansion franchising awards were given, for the third consecutive year, to the Meu Super chain of convenience stores belonging to the Sonae MC Group. Indeed, the supermarket chain has experienced exponential growth since its launch in Portugal in 2011, expanding from 24 units at the end of 2012 to a total of 260 at the end of last year.
Still on the topic of expansion, the Maxfinance concept was the winner in the services category, and Grab&Go was the one that expanded the most in the restaurant sector. Both brands had already won in the same categories last year.
KIOMA, the cosmetics brand that registered the most openings in international markets in 2016, won the Internationalization Award.
The Social Media Strategy Award, a new feature in last year's edition, which aims to reward brands that communicate best on these channels according to the opinion of franchisees, went to Loja do Condomínio for the second consecutive year.
