AACS Awards winners revealed

AACS Awards winners revealed

Over 650 leading lights in the Australian convenience industry came together at Crown in Melbourne to celebrate the inspiring achievements of the top retailers, suppliers, stores and up-and-coming talent in convenience at the recent AACS Gala & Awards dinner.

This year’s Retailer of the Year was BP Australia and the Supplier of the Year award went to PepsiCo. The Store of the Year awards went to The Foodary at Tullamarine (company operated) and BP Urbanista at Condell Park (franchise/independent).

Top individual honours went to Shannon Fargher of BP and Matt Bluck of Parmalat, who picked up the coveted AACS Peter Jowett Convenience Industry Awards for retailers and suppliers respectively. Deborah Ruka of Caltex was named the AACS Woman of the Year.

AACS CEO Jeff Rogut said the Convenience Leaders Summit and Gala Awards celebration were especially poignant this year, which has seen the convenience sector elevated to the front of the public conscious.

“The AACS Gala Awards are a great way to remind ourselves of the talent and innovation that’s driving our industry forward,” Rogut said.

“Convenience stores have been in the headlines of late as victims of crime, but we won’t be defined in this way. Ours is a dynamic industry filled with people of great thinking and real action, and our award winners each exemplify the spirit of convenience in Australia.

“In particular, the commitment to innovate and find new and exciting ways to attract and serve customers is consistent across this year’s winners and finalists. Customer service is at the core of what we do, and ensuring we do this in the most convenient way possible, delivering an experience that communicates our value proposition, is the true value of convenience.

“Congratulations to all this year’s winners and runners-up, and thank you to the industry for getting involved in our Convenience Leaders Summit and Gala Awards,” he says.

AACS Awards – all winners by category

A full list of this year’s AACS Awards winners is shown below. To ensure the best and fairest outcome, the awards for retailers were judged by suppliers and vice versa. Stores award entries were nominated by retailers and then judged through a team of mystery shoppers against set criteria.

AACS Supplier Awards

And the award goes to….

Food on the Go

Finalists: Mrs Macs, Handmade Food Co., Patties Foods

Winner: Patties Foods

Beverages

Finalists: Coca Cola, Frucor Suntory, Lion Dairy & Drinks

Winner: Frucor Suntory

Confectionery

Finalists: Mondelez, Stuart Alexander, Nestle

Winner: Stuart Alexander

Distributors

Finalists: Metcash, The Distributors, PFD Foods

Winner: The Distributors

Service Provider

Finalists: IRI, Convenience Measures, Shopper Tracker

Winner: Convenience Measures

Grocery & GM

Finalists: Pacific Optics, Repco

Winner: Pacific Optics

Snacking

Finalists: PepsiCo, Peters, Snackbrands

Winner: PepsiCo

Telecommunications

Finalists: Optus, Telstra, Vodafone

Winner: Vodafone

Tobacco

Finalists: Philip Morris, Richlands Express, Imperial Tobacco

Winner: Philip Morris

AACS Store Awards

Major Retailer Company Operated Store of the Year

Finalists:  7-Eleven – Brisbane, APCO – North Geelong

Winner: The Foodary – Tullamarine

Major Retailer Franchise / Independent Store of the Year

Finalists: 7-Eleven – Lithgow, Westside Petroleum – Bundanoon

Winner: BP Urbanista – Condell Park

AACS Supplier of the Year

Finalists: Coca Cola, Frucor Suntory, PepsiCo

Winner: PepsiCo

AACS Retailer of the Year

Finalists: AA Petroleum, BP Australia, 7 Eleven

Winner: BP Australia

AACS PJ Industry Award

Finalists: Retail

Anthea Tsaousis, BP

Shannon Fargher, BP

Samantha Ngan Kee, Caltex

Finalists: Suppliers

Matt Bluck, Parmalat

Samuel Bennett, Optus

Sean MacKay, Philip Morris

Winners:

Retail: Shannon Fargher, BP

Suppliers: Matt Bluck, Parmalat

AACS Women of the Year

Rising Star Finalists

Finalists: Bethany Franklin – BP, Erin Beilharz – Schweppes, Sabrina Bayer – Frucor Beverages

Winner: Sabrina Bayer, Frucor Beverages

Store Operator of the Year Finalists

Finalists: Kathy Bright – BP, Kerri Charlton – APCO, Rebecca Smith – BP

Winner: Kerri Charlton, APCO

Women of the Year Finalists

Finalists: Tracey Janson – Phillip Morris, Deborah Ruka – Caltex, Sylvia Laible – BP

Winner: Deborah Ruka, Caltex

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