How the Program Works

To be considered for the CFA Award of Excellence in Franchising of Franchises' Choice designation, franchise systems must participate in a confidential electronic survey. All CFA member franchise systems receive an invitation to participate in the competition in December of each year. The survey takes about 10 - 15 minutes to complete and asks franchisors to rate themselves in areas such as training, support, communication, operations and marketing. The results of teh franchisor's survey are used in benchmark reports that are made available to franchise system participants for self assessment purposes.

Once the franchisor has completed the survey, the franchisor provides to InfoFeedback, the third-party research firm, an electronic contact list of all their franchisees for their franchise brand. As soon as the franchisor's survey is completed, the same survey is then sent to the franchisees. This provides the franchisees with more time to complete the survey. The electronic contact list of the franchisees is used by InfoFeedback for the sole purpose of administering the CFA Award of Excellence in Franchising program.

The results for both the CFA Award of Excellence in Franchising and the Franchisees' Choice designation are calculated from the franchisee assessment. In previous years, the scoring was based on a scale of 1 to 5. The scale has been increased to 1 to 10 to provide a finer and more granular assessment and enhance the value and accuracy of the individual and benchmark reports for franchisors. These reports are available at a fee of $275 and are ordered during the Franchisor Survey process.

The 2011 CFA Award of Excellence in Franchising winners and Franchisees' Choice designees will be announced on April 4, 2011 during the CFA National Convention in Niagara Falls, Ontario.