Take-away pizza franchise, Crust Gourmet Pizza Bars, won the award for Oustanding Excellence at the ActionCoach My Business Awards, held in Sydney on 2 October.

Crust also won the Best Retailer category because of its strategy for sustainable growth and ability to convert business opportunities into sales.

The awards recognise SME businesses and franchises that excel across all areas of business practice.

Costa Anastasiadis, founder and managing director of Crust Gourmet Pizza Bars, said the business has been going through a strong growth phase, especially during the past 12 months, which has seen the franchise almost double in size.

“We only had 19 stores when we applied for the awards last year and now we have 37 stores across the Eastern Seaboard, which has been a major achievement for us,” he said.

“This year we launched our Upper Crust range in response to the demand for higher quality takeaway food due to the global financial crisis. The range includes six new gourmet varieties and is of the quality you would find in a top restaurant made with the freshest and best quality ingredients.”

“The Outstanding Excellence Award means a lot to our business as it recognises all that we achieved over the last 12 months.”

This year, the franchise has also been listed in Smartcompany’s Smart 50 and BRW’s Fast Franchises listing.