Joe Buckley and Flo Pearce from the Tollemache Arms in Harrington, Northamptonshire, have won the BII’s Licensee of the Year competition.
The winners were announced after a final judging day at sponsor Sky Business’s headquarters on Monday. There, each of the six finalists faced three panels of industry experts and operators.
Joe and Flo had been strong competitors from the start. They scored highly across all areas, including mystery customer visits and web and social media audits, as well as their on-site judging visit from Sue Allen and Ashley McCarthy. Their performance on the final judging day sealed the deal for thes operators.
They picked up their winner’s trophy in front of colleagues and industry friends at this year’s BII Summer Event yesterday, at the HAC Royal Artillery Gardens in Moorgate, London.
“I’d like to offer a massive congratulations to Flo and Joe on behalf of myself and the whole team here at the BII, including our fantastic judges,” said BII chief executive, Steve Alton.
“This is the most rigorous and intense competition in our industry, so I would like to also congratulate our other wonderful finalists, as this year the standard was truly remarkable.
“We can’t wait to share the experience and best practice from all our finalists over the coming year with the whole BII membership.”
Damian Saunders, managing director of Sky Business, said: “A huge congratulations to Joe and Flo for winning the Licensee of the Year Award in 2023. Sky Business is delighted to partner with the BII on this award and play a part in recognising the individuals who have achieved so much in the industry, particularly after the incredible challenges
they have had to continually face over the past years.”
