The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), the leading professional body for the UK’s licensees, has announced that the competition is now open for their annual Licensee of the Year Awards, with a brand new prize of a trip on a European study tour.
Sponsored by BT Sport, Licensee of the Year is the industry’s most sought after award with a reputation for recognising the most talented and tenacious licensees and is set to repeat the feat in 2016. The BII aims to identify the publican who has demonstrated the highest levels of business acumen and commitment to their staffs’ personal development as well as the progression of their own business.
Although the BII expects the same high standard as previous years, the format of the competition is changing this year. Competitors can now either register themselves or be nominated by a third party; this can be customers, colleagues, pub companies and breweries or even fellow operators!
In addition, another change this year will be at stage two of the entry process, when a mystery customer will visit approximately 50 shortlisted publicans. This report of their experience will be used by the BII to decide whether the licensee progresses further in the competition, and these reports will also be shared with entrants as a valuable tool for business building. Independent audits of entrants’ social media and website activity will also be compiled and will count towards the overall scoring to decide the semi-finalists, who will be visited by a panel of judges for one to one interviews.
The closing stage of the competition will see all six finalists attend a panel judging day in May 2016, where they attend an interview in London with a panel of industry specialists. To celebrate getting to the finals, these six licensees will receive their trophies and celebrate in style at the BII’s annual summer event on 7th June 2016. The well-deserved winner will receive the top prize of a European study trip.
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