Greene King Celebrates Pub Franchisees with Dedicated Awards Ceremony

Greene King Pub Partners, the leased, tenanted and franchise division of Greene King, has celebrated the success of its franchisees with an awards ceremony held as part of a dedicated Franchise Festival at Leicester Racecourse.

Greene King operates two franchise concepts – Hive and Nest Pubs. Nest Pubs are reliable wet-led pubs predominantly located on busy high streets and in communities – providing great value, an excellent experience and regular sport and entertainment along with a simple pizza food offer that is easy for operators to serve. While Hive Pubs are welcoming local pubs with a buzz, located in the hearts of the communities they serve. Hive Pubs provide a great range of drinks and food for every occasion alongside a regular programme of entertainment and live sport.

Franchisees can take on their own franchise pub from as little as just £3,000 ingoing cost, which covers agreement fees, induction, and on-site training. Earnings are based on a percentage of food and drink sales, with additional opportunities for profit-sharing and performance-based bonuses.

With representatives from over 100 franchise partners in attendance, embracing the 90s fancy dress theme, Franchise Festival provided an opportunity to share ideas, celebrate achievements and look ahead to the next chapter of growth for Greene King’s franchise estate.

In the afternoon, the Franchise Awards winners were announced – recognising the very best of Greene King Pub Partners’ franchisees. The awards were followed by a celebration with a festival atmosphere, including bandeoke. Suppliers including Heineken, Greene King Brewery, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Pernod Ricard, Global Brands and more stocked the bars for franchisees to enjoy.

As well as the celebrations, a morning conference took place, with presenters from across Greene King’s Pub Partners – covering topics such as insights, and events and experiences, plus an opportunity to reflect on the year so far and look forward to one of the most important trading periods, Christmas. There was also a franchisee panel session, allowing franchisees to share their experiences, learnings and best practice with one another.

The event raised over £4,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support through a raffle and silent auction.

This year’s Franchise Awards winners were:

Category – Winner

Community Pub of the Year – The King & Queen, Warrington

Food Pub of the Year – The Crown, Hazlemere

Digital Pub of the Year – The Two Poplars, Wokingham

Sports Pub of the Year – The Hay Nook, Maltby

Support Pub of the Year – The William Wallace, Stirling

Ops Excellence Pub of the Year – The County Arms, Winchester

New Franchisee of the Year – The Star, Bristol

Franchisee of the Year (Nest) – The Snaffle Bit, Glasgow

Franchisee of the Year (Hive) – The Two Poplars, Wokingham

Penny Bruce, Franchise Operations Director for Greene King Pub Partners, said: “A huge congratulations to all of this year’s Franchise Award winners.

“These awards are about recognising the very best of our franchise partners – celebrating the operators who run great pubs and create brilliant experiences for their communities.

“Our Franchise Festival is a great chance to celebrate together as one team, to learn from each other’s success, and recognise the incredible growth of our franchise business – which continues to go from strength to strength.”

Notes to editors

About Greene King

Greene King is the country’s leading pub company and brewer trading c. 2,500 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, Wales and Scotland.

At Greene King we are passionate about delivering our purpose to ‘pour happiness into lives’. That’s for our customers, our team, our pub partners, our suppliers and the communities in which we live, operate and serve. Founded in 1799 with offices in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and Burton on Trent in Staffordshire we employ around 38,000 people across the group and operate three divisions including Managed Pubs, Pub Partners and Brewing & Brands.

• Managed Pubs: Our Managed Pubs division brings together our best-known pub and restaurant brands nationwide, including Greene King pubs, Hungry Horse, Chef & Brewer, Farmhouse Inns and Flaming Grill. We offer great service, quality and value for a wide range of eating and drinking occasions. Ventures includes Hickory’s, Premium (Crafted Pubs & Metropolitan Pub Company) and Hotels, which operate independently of Greene King’s managed pub brands.

• Pub Partners: Pub Partners runs our tenanted and leased pubs business and Hive and Nest franchise pubs. These options combine entrepreneurial independence with practical support, enabling partners to run successful local businesses within a market‑leading estate. We have c.1,000 leased, tenanted and franchise pubs.

• Brewing & Brands covers the brewing sides of the business. Quality ales are brewed at the Westgate brewery in Bury St Edmunds and the Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar. Our industry-leading portfolio includes Greene King IPA, Abbot Ale, Ice Breaker and Belhaven Best and our premium beers, Level Head and Hazy Day, brewed for the modern-day drinker.

For further information please contact Greene King Press Office via pressoffice@greeneking.co.uk.

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