Our favourite event of the year took place last weekend - the annual Cafe2U conference!
Held in the wonderful surroundings of Wyboston Lakes in Bedford, the theme of this year's conference was 'The Seven Habits Of A Successful Franchisee' and saw members of the Cafe2U management team delivering presentations and workshops to the 60+ franchisees in attendance to help ensure they have another successful year in 2023.
The seven aforementioned habits are:
Be proactive
Begin with the end in mind (have long-term vision)
Put first things first
Think win-win (mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers)
Seek first to understand, then to be understood (inc social media)
Synergise (creative cooperation)
Sharpen the saw (practise, practise, practise)
Kicking off with an introductory speech from Franchise Development Manager Nick Sara and an overview of the UK coffee market from CEO Martyn Ward, Head of Coffee Standards Callum Ellis then gave a presentation about coffee quality and its importance to franchisees and customers.
A series of workshops were held in the afternoon and covered topics including the importance of forging strong relationships with suppliers, getting the most out of social media and how to improve your coffee making skills. Representing an invaluable opportunity for our franchisees to expand upon their already impressive knowledge, the workshops went down a storm, with every session getting a great turnout.
Concluding the day's work was a Q&A session with CEO Martyn and the Franchise Development Management team which gave the franchisees the opportunity to ask any questions that came to mind, and for the presenters to answer questions that had been submitted earlier in the day via a question box located on site.
As evening fell, it was time for dinner and an awards ceremony, as attention switched firmly from work to play. With amazing food to enjoy, awards up for grabs - including the coveted Franchise Partner of The Year award, which was picked up by Amanda and Steve Lawrence, who operate in Braintree - and four-piece rock band Twist of Rock providing the tunes, our franchisees had a great time celebrating and dancing the night away.
CEO Martyn Ward said: "As ever, the annual Cafe2U conference was a great success. As well as celebrating both the franchisees' and the business' achievements in 2022 - which was our best year ever for both sales and sales growth - the conference was also a great opportunity for the senior management team to share some knowledge and advice with the franchisees to help them succeed again in 2023.
"And, of course, it was also an excellent excuse to get together for a bit of fun and a few drinks, with many franchisees finally getting the chance to meet face-to-face for the first time ever! Needless to say, we're already counting the days until next year's event!"