Hi Derek, can I answer your questions in reverse order:
4. With Google Places you have 5 categories. One of these must be from Google's list, the other 4 are free form i.e. you can create your own. I always use all 5 categories and never put the location in the free form categories. For example, "halal meat" not "halal meat london". With the Google one use the closest match. With the others go for the most relevant keywords with high search volume.
3. With the citations, the company name, phone number etc. needs to be the same so you have to treat each branch as unique to get coverage across the directories
2. Make the listing as relevant to the local branch as possible. I personally do not see a need for unique descriptions - I have 600+ branches in my organization so this is simply not practical but with 5 listings I might consider it.
1. Not 100% sure what is going on here but I would use as close to what is in the company logo as possible (i.e. the name used in the company logo)