Avocado wins ‘Franchise of the Year: Retail Stores’ award

Sladkaya Zhizn Plus, the company managing the Avocado franchise programme, has won the ‘Franchise of the Year: Retail Stores’ category at the Consumer Choice 2026 awards. The award was reported by Retail.ru on 13 November. For Russia’s franchise sector, the news is noteworthy primarily because of the assessment method: winners were selected using research tools that measure customer satisfaction with the quality of products and services.

How the winners were selected

The awards were presented in Moscow at the 17th Consumer Choice ceremony. This year, the expert panel reviewed more than 600 applications from companies across a range of sectors. Sladkaya Zhizn Plus was among 109 award recipients and won its category.

The assessment used a consumer panel and testing conducted by research company Romir. These tools identified leading companies based on an index of customer satisfaction with product and service quality. The announced result therefore reflects consumer assessments, rather than simply the size of the network or its number of outlets.

It is important, however, to interpret the award’s title correctly. Avocado received recognition in one specific category: ‘Franchise of the Year: Retail Stores’. The figure of more than 600 applications refers to the awards as a whole, not to the number of competing retail franchises. Likewise, the 109 recipients represent all the companies honoured, not the entrants in a single category.

For prospective business owners, this distinction has practical significance: it helps put the achievement in perspective. The win reflects the programme’s performance in the awards, but does not in itself constitute a comparison of the investment appeal of every franchise available in Russia.

The programme behind the award

According to the published figures, the Avocado franchise network comprises 5,800 neighbourhood convenience stores. It operates across 17 Russian regions, covering 160 cities, towns and other settlements. These figures describe the programme’s operating scale at the time the award was reported, rather than plans for future expansion.

The partnership programme was established within the Sladkaya Zhizn group. According to the publication Ekonomisty, it offers ready-made solutions for starting a business from scratch. Sladkaya Zhizn Plus manages the franchise programme and is the company named among the award recipients.

The latest award adds to the programme’s previous achievements. In 2025, Avocado took first place in Forbes’ ranking of Russian franchises. In summer 2026, the Sladkaya Zhizn Plus programme won the ‘Innovative Approach’ category at the Contribution to Franchising Development 2026 awards.

These achievements should be considered separately: the Forbes ranking, the award for an innovative approach and the Consumer Choice award have different titles and bases for recognition. Together, they demonstrate several instances of public recognition, but it would be misleading to combine them into a single measure of an individual store’s performance.

Technologies are tested in company-owned stores first

The award announcement also outlines how solutions are developed for partners. Olga Moiseeva, Marketing Director at Sladkaya Zhizn Plus and head of the Avocado programme, said that technologies for the network’s stores are first refined in company-owned outlets.

According to Moiseeva, the neighbourhood convenience format draws on European retail technologies whose effectiveness has been tested in SPAR and EUROSPAR supermarkets, which also form part of the group. This statement describes the origins of the solutions offered through the programme and how they are trialled.

For a prospective franchisee, the key point is not just the brands mentioned, but the stated sequence: testing in company-owned stores first, followed by deployment across the partner network. When discussing a partnership, it is sensible to clarify exactly which solutions have undergone this testing and how they are used in the chosen store format.

The comparability of trading conditions also deserves attention. Prospective owners should ask for examples of the proposed tools in use at outlets similar to their planned store in location and scale. This is part of due diligence before signing an agreement, rather than something that can be inferred from the award itself.

What prospective partners should consider

The award provides another reason to explore the programme, but consumer assessments and franchisee financial performance address different questions. Customer satisfaction concerns the quality of products and services; an investment decision requires a separate analysis of costs, each party’s obligations and the operating conditions of the specific outlet.

During negotiations, prospective partners should therefore request details of the support package, the technology implementation process, purchasing terms and a financial model for their chosen premises. It is also useful to establish which performance figures from existing stores can be used to check the calculations, and what assumptions underpin the forecast.

Practical takeaway: Avocado’s award is worth noting as public recognition of the programme. A franchise should be chosen only after reviewing the agreement, the support available and the financial viability of your own store — not by allowing an award title to take the place of those checks.