A COUPLE who first met while working in the hair industry teamed up and went on to buy eight salons together.

Nick and Claire Slorach who are based at Toni & Guy in Blake Street, York, have now been recognised for their success by scooping the UK Business Partner title at the Toni & Guy Global Awards.

Their award is the highest recognition for the company's partners and recognises professionalism and excellence in the delivery of the Toni & Guy business model. It focuses on salon management and support, marketing, education, people and experience.

Nick and Claire have had their York salon for two years, and one in Harrogate for six months, employing 40 team members.

The honour was announced in front of 3,000 industry professionals from around the world at the ExCel Arena in East London for Toni & Guy Salon Live.

Presenting the award, CEO Nigel Darwin said: “Our winners, with a wealth of local market knowledge and creative business minds they implement fresh marketing ideas, develop future partners and deliver an exceptional client experience across the group of salons.”

Nick who joined the company more than 30 years ago said: “We are totally thrilled to have won this award. We are dedicated to our brand, our partners and our teams that strive to give the best client experience to everyone who visits our salons.

"We are extremely proud of all of them. It has proven that investing in your team’s career path really pays off and makes our businesses stand out from the rest. This is reflected by our clients and all the amazing reviews we receive from them every day. We really can’t wait to see what happens next.”

Claire said the award came out of the blue but was "incredible to achieve".

"The awards were presented in front of 198 salons; the majority are franchise partners. The award we won was the last to be announced.

"We didn't know this award was even going to be announced. Then they started talking about the final award and we started to realise they were talking about us.

"I joined the company 17 years ago and just worked my way up, as did Nick. We met through Toni & Guy seven to eight years ago.

"That's when we started buying businesses together. We both manage and lead very differently. We both have our own strengths and know know what each of us has to do."

They praised the teams at their franchises which include Newcastle, Harrogate, Edinburgh and Cheshire as "loyal and hard-working"