Shingle Inn Mt Ommaney franchisee, Nicki Nesbitt, received Shingle Inn’s highest coffee accolade recently in a hotly contested barista competition against franchisees and store managers representing each of Shingle Inn’s 40 nation-wide stores.

The barista competition win was hot on the heels of Shingle Inn Mt Ommaney being named as the Franchise Council of Australia’s QLD/ NT Franchisee of the Year (2 or more staff) and comes just before this month’s announcement of the national award winner which Nicki sees as a good omen.

“We were totally amazed to have been nominated as the Queensland/ Northern Territory Franchisee of the Year for the second year in a row so I’m secretly hoping that the coffee competition win is the sign of more awards heading our way,” says Nicki with a grin.

Nicki and her co-owners, husband Wiesiek Lewandowski, and their best friends April and Tony Carnie, will head to Sydney ahead of the announcement of the national award winner at the FCA’s Gala Dinner on Tuesday 28 October. As part of their Queensland win, Nicki and April receive flights, accommodation and tickets to the event and will be joined by their husbands and a team from Shingle Inn’s head office.

“We thought it would be a nice opportunity to have a short break together too.”

“The best part about winning both these awards is the response we get from our customers, some of whom have brought us cards and gifts of congratulations,” says Nicki. “Part of the rewards of owning our own business is the relationships we’ve been able to build with our customers over the past, almost, five years. They’re a special part of our lives. We really hope we can win it for them,” says Nicki.