Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection, has named Gabriel McGeown as the winner of its ‘Franchisee of the Year’ award which was presented at the Company’s recent annual conference held in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.

Gabriel McGeown who joined Card Connection in 2008 manages, Armagh, South Tyrone and part of the County Down region in Ireland.

“We are delighted to be able to recognise Gabriel McGeown for his outstanding commitment as a Card Connection franchisee,” confirms Andrew Cutler, sales and franchise director of Card Connection.“Gabriel is consistently the top performer in average sales per retail outlet, growing his businesses volume sales by 14% in the past year. In addition, at the end 2010 we experienced some of the worst snow and ice in years, yet despite the adverse weather conditions, Gabriel ensured all his key retail customers were properly merchandised and supplied with Christmas stock ready for the busiest buying period of the year.

“However, Gabriel’s dedication did not stop there,” continues Cutler. “We were particularly impressed that during his busy work schedule he was still able to find time to help one of our new franchisees set up his business. He arranged for a builder to copy the measurements of his stock room and storage area so the set up could be replicated by his new fellow franchisee. He even took one of his staff to the new franchisee’s unit to help him get up and running quickly.”

Gabriel McGeown won the Regional Franchisee of the Year award for Ireland and Scotland as well as the Heidi Sulley trophy for Team Sprit and Tenacity.

Other Card Connection franchisees that were recognised at the award ceremony included South West, South Wales & Central regional winners, Ron and Shirley Maynard who have continually grown their business since start up in 1996 and achieved 8% growth in the past year. Atul Patel who has developed his business since 2001 was named as the regional winner for the South East, Midlands and Anglia. Atul now employs 4 merchandisers and ranks in the top 10 in the network on a number of product sales. Martin Sweeney took the North East and North West regional award for showing outstanding levels of customer service.

Card Connection is part of UK Greetings, the largest publicly owned greeting card publisher in the world and has limited vacancies for franchisees who are keen to run an expanding business. Successful candidates would ideally have some management experience as, once established, they would be expected to employ a small team, operate a warehouse and have several liveried vans on the road.

Because the franchise networks in the UK and Ireland are complete, the available opportunities now consist of acquiring an already-established territory from an existing franchisee. These vary in price according to their level of development, but start at £20,000 (+ stock) with earnings potential in excess of £50K per annum.