Harrow and Brent businesswoman Reema Mavani, owner of seven McDonald’s restaurants has won the New Direction award at the recent bfa HSBC British Franchise Awards run by the British Franchise Association and sponsored by HSBC Bank.
Reema was a global account director in the IT industry before buying her first McDonald’s franchise in 2017. She currently operates seven McDonald’s restaurants across Harrow and Brent boroughs and employs more than 650 people, including 48 who have been taken off Universal Credit by leveraging the Kick Start programme. She has recorded the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the UK, 72% – 16% above the company average.
Reema focuses on people development and talent recognition to deliver her vision of creating an inclusive team dynamic. Since taking over she has ensured gender balance in her leadership teams and given more people from ethnic minorities the chance to lead.
In the ‘New Direction’ award, the judges were looking for a franchisee who had combined their former business experience with their new brand to excel as a franchisee; for a franchisee who had realigned their extensive business knowledge and insight from a different sector into their newly established business franchise model, allowing them to maximise on their current business journey in franchising. Reema ticked all the boxes for the judges.
On winning the award Reema said:
“I feel overwhelmed and so pleased. Being a McDonald’s franchisee means I wear many hats, I listen to my team, they come up with the ideas and I have an open-door policy to ensure I keep listening to them. I am always looking to move the needle, whether that is to continue expanding my business, becoming involved in a new local initiative, building my team or investing in technology to enhance customer experience. As I continue to do well in business, it’s important at the same time that I am being socially responsible to my community and my people.”
Speaking on the night, Pip Wilkins, CEO of the British Franchising Association, said:
“Huge congratulations to Reema for winning the New Direction award. Not only is she making a huge success of running her own franchise businesses, but she is also making a big difference to the lives of her staff and her local communities, and we are so glad her efforts have been recognised here tonight.
“As the oldest franchise association in the United Kingdom, we work hard to maintain the standards of ethical franchising in this country. Franchising contributes over £17bn to the country’s GDP and provides employment to over 700,000 people. Franchise operations are perfectly built to withstand the rigours of even the harshest financial storms, relying as they do on following tried and tested business models. We send congratulations to all our winners and thank them for upholding the standards of the association and being such outstanding examples of the best that franchising has to offer.”