There were smiles all around for Byrne’s SPAR Caherslee at The Clayton Hotel on Dublin’s Burlington Road on Friday, September 27th, where the National Q Mark Awards ceremony took place. The gala event was a chance for all those nominated to celebrate the high standards they’d achieved in rigorous audits by EIQA, the proud guardians of the Q Mark suite of Quality standards. To make it onto the list, each enterprise had to earn a place in the top 6 per cent of the audits carried out across the island of Ireland. Byrne’s SPAR Caherslee is one of 2 Tralee based SPAR stores owned by Louis Byrne & his wife Colette O’Sullivan. This service station and store is managed by Deirdre Fitzgibbon with a committed team of 16 staff and has an enviable reputation for excellence in customer service and food safety standards.
The store has consistently achieved the highest level 3 Q mark for Hygiene and Food safety over the 3 years and this is their second year being nominated for a National award. Store Manager Deirdre Fitzgibbon says it’s really satisfying to see their hard work paying off: “We were thrilled to be nominated for a National Q mark award. We’ve always done really well in the awards programme but to be selected as a finalist in the National awards is amazing. The team here work exceptionally hard every day on store standards and we all certainly deserve the nomination”. The Awards night is also a great opportunity for the Q Mark Awards charity partner to make their pitch to the business community. This year John and Jayne Glynn attended the event on behalf of the Gavin Glynn Foundation. John spoke about his son Gavin’s journey through cancer and why he and his family were inspired to help others with children who have to travel abroad for cancer treatment. Fundraising in aid of the Foundation raised more than €8000 on the night with all prizes generously donated by Q Mark customers.