The Disruptive Franchise Awards Returns to London For Its Third Year To Celebrate Innovation within Franchising

The franchise market in the UK currently contributes £17 billion to the UK economy, employing over 700,000 employees. With businesses battling the current economic climate, franchising is proving the solution to business success with a 99.5% success rate according to the latest data from the British Franchise Association. Franchise Strategist, Stacey Cann, has just announced that under her new ownership, this year’s Disruptive Franchise Awards will be the biggest celebration of innovation in the franchise industry yet!

With new categories to celebrate, a new video podcast The Distruptive Franchise Podcast to extend the celebrations and a focus on blending business and franchising worlds, the event, taking place on Friday 26th September at the Village Hotel, in Watford is not to be missed!

Back in 2023, Stacey Cann, who has 10 years experience in Franchise and is Managing Director of national franchise Daisy First Aid, won the first ever Disruptive Franchisee Of The Year Award – fast forward to 2025 and she has taken over the awards with some exciting changes.

Unlike many business awards, the entries are not judged on turnover, network size or popularity. Instead, the judges (a panel of franchise industry experts)  – Christina Taylor Chisholm (franchisor of Popolo Ceramico) Harvey Tuck (host of The Franchise Show)  Kurt Edward ( Business Specialist at AdSmart from Sky) and Helen Wilson (Franchisee at Gootopia) – will be judging on how the entries meet each category criteria and demonstrate their innovative approaches regardless of failure or success.

This year’s overhaul of the event has included new award categories, including Inclusivity Champion In Franchising, Trailblazer and Support Manager of The Year.

These areas are often overlooked at more traditional franchise awards, and are being embraced this year to give those who deserve it a strong platform.

A new video podcast will also be introduced alongside the event itself to showcase the innovative stories behind the award winners and sponsors. To share stories of failure, success and growth will inspire those in business to be bolder and have courage to lead from the front!

The aim of this year’s awards is also to blend expertise in the wider business world with the franchise community. The awards have been sponsored by a host of companies, including booking system Bookwhen as the headline sponsor.

Stacey Cann says; “I love these awards so much because whereas the franchising industry as a whole is based on compliance for network growth, the awards encourage and reward innovation and creativity – two things that every business needs to embrace right now.”

Jo Potts from Bookwhen commented that “We’re thrilled to be the headline sponsor for the Disruptive Franchise Awards. It’s an exciting celebration of the inspiring people who build bold, community-led businesses; something we’re passionate about supporting at Bookwhen.”

Entries to the Disruptive Franchise Awards are open until 5pm on Friday 4th July 2025.

The Awards take place on Friday 26th September in Watford