CrestClean is excited to have scooped two major awards at the Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards.
‘Regional Master Franchisee of the Year’ was awarded to Viky and Nileshna Narayan, while Royce and Hannah Park won ‘Franchisee of the Year — Business to Business’.
The prestigious awards were presented at a gala dinner in Auckland on Saturday night and recognise excellence in growing and running a franchise business.
CrestClean Managing Director Grant McLauchlan says the awards are a significant achievement of which the winning franchisees can be very proud.
“The Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards are a platform for celebrating the best of the best in the franchising industry and we are honoured to have two of our franchise teams recognised,” says Grant.
“At CrestClean we take immense pride in our franchisees’ accomplishments and to have both a seasoned and a relatively new team top their categories is outstanding.”
From Dollar King to ‘franchise king’
Royce and Hannah Park started their business five years ago — in which time they have grown it sevenfold to become the largest CrestClean franchise in Hawke’s Bay.
JUDGES COMMENTS
“Royce and Hannah demonstrate that hard work, staff investment, customer connection, community engagement and adhering to the franchisor’s systems is a great formula for achieving goals.”
Originally from Korea, Royce moved to Auckland with his parents as a teenager, picking up a cleaning job part-time while still at school. After leaving school, he became a supervisor, overseeing 20 staff and six cleaning contracts.
He and Hannah moved to the Hawke’s Bay when their first child was due, where he initially worked as the manager of Dollar King Napier, before joining CrestClean.
“With a growing young family, Hannah and I wanted to become our own bosses and to take charge of our own destiny. We are proud to say that since then we have grown our business significantly to include eight wonderful staff members, with cleaning contracts throughout the Hawke’s Bay,” says Royce.
“We are grateful and humbled to have achieved our biggest personal goal of purchasing a home for our family of four beautiful young children in 2022. This has been a dream come true for us and has been the most rewarding aspect of investing in our franchise business.”
However, their path to success has not been without its challenges, says Royce.
“The hurdles we faced with the Covid pandemic, and the recent impact of Cyclone Gabrielle had a significant effect on our business.
“But through resilience, determination, and our strong relationship with CrestClean’s Hawkes Bay Regional Master Franchisee Tim O’Leary, and by leveraging our relationships with our loyal customers, we have now managed to regain our lost revenue. We are proud to say that we are now in a stronger position than ever before.”
To support their business growth, Royce and Hannah became accredited employers with Immigration New Zealand, allowing them to bring family and friends from their church in Korea.
They also opened a Korean language school and were part of the regional Korean leadership hub, during Cyclone Gabrielle and the Covid pandemic. Their commitment and dedication were acknowledged by the Korean Embassy, which shipped emergency supplies directly to them for distribution.
“Being part of the CrestClean team fills us with pride and gratitude. We are humbled by the journey we’ve taken, the growth we’ve achieved, and the impact we’ve made. We wholeheartedly believe that by continuing to focus on growing our business we can improve our lives, and create more opportunities to improve the lives of the people around us,” says Royce.
Viky and Nileshna Narayan score a hat-trick with third win
Viky and Nileshna Narayan are CrestClean’s Regional Master Franchisees for the Auckland South region.
It is the third time they have enjoyed success at the Franchise Awards, having won the same award in 2019 and 2015.
JUDGES COMMENTS
“This Regional Master Franchisee demonstrates impressive performance, clear use of the franchise system and tools, and a strong commitment to exceeding customer expectations.”
Originally from Fiji, Viky and Nileshna purchased a CrestClean franchise in 2005 and quickly moved up to the role of Regional Masters.
They currently oversee operations for 62 franchise teams, comprised of 175 personnel who provide cleaning services to 360 customers.
No strangers to franchise success, they have also been multiple award winners at the annual Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards, having won five awards over the past nine years.
“Many stakeholders are involved in the success of our business,” says Viky.
“Our franchisees and their employees who do the front line work and maintain our excellence in the field, our office staff who respond to issues at all hours of the day, CrestClean’s administrative staff who ensure our operations are supported on a daily basis, senior management who provide valuable mentoring and business expertise, our customers, and the business leaders in our community who appreciate our services and recommend us to their peers.”
The achievements and growth of their franchise over the past 12-18 months had “surpassed expectations”, he adds.
“These accomplishments can be attributed to several key factors that have played a vital role in our success — a commitment to quality customer service, continuous improvement and innovation, training and development, and setting strategic business goals for ourselves and inspiring our franchisees to do the same.
“We consistently go above and beyond to exceed customer expectations, resulting in a growing base of loyal clients who are motivated to make positive, powerful word-of-mouth referrals. In the past year, our customer contract terminations have been halved and our contract values have increased by 13 per cent.”
As well as running a successful business, Viky and Nileshna also actively participate in community outreach programs and environmental initiatives, which have created a positive impact on their community.
“We enjoy having a positive impact on the community where we work and live.”
