LAVAL, QC, April 10 /CNW/ - A&W announced today that Luc and Ginette
Lauzon of Laval, Quebec have won the 2006 A&W President's Award, from a field
of 670 Canadian A&W restaurants.
    The couple was inspired to pursue the first place President's Award,
after securing the Bronze Award of Excellence for Operating Standards in 2005.
"We are very proud of our hardworking staff, they set a goal as a team and
achieved it," says Luc Lauzon, A&W franchisee. "Our customers have been very
supportive and we share this honour with them."
    "Luc and Ginette's strong leadership and dedicated team are a credit to
the business. They exemplify the highest commitment to food quality and
customer service, raising the bar for excellence for the rest of the A&W chain
to strive towards," said Paul Hollands, President and Chief Executive Officer
of A&W Food Services of Canada Inc.
    The Award's review process to determine the winner is extensive. Once a
short list of candidates has met the qualifying criteria, Regional Managers
visit and evaluate each restaurant unannounced, to determine a list of three
finalists. A four-person review panel, headed by Hollands, then visits each
restaurant to determine the winner, with restaurants judged on criteria
including customer service and business success.
    The President's Award was established in 1977 and is the highest honour
given by the organization to an A&W restaurant in the chain. A&W Food Services
of Canada Inc. is the nation's second largest hamburger restaurant company by
number of locations with more than 670 locations across the country. Total
system sales in 2006 were $613 million.