Cranbrook honours its business community

A gala evening showcased the nominees and winners of the Cranbrook & District Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards

1 of 5Lisa Barnes, owner-operator of Max's Place with her husband Graham (not shown), accepted the 2013 Customer Service Excellence award from Darcy Kennedy. — Marie Milner photo

2 of 5Janice Alpine (L) presented the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award to Jan Branden-Stone of The Painted Crate at the Cranbrook chamber's Business Excellence Award night. — Marie Milner photo

3 of 5Dawn and Martin Torgerson of Cranbrook Home Hardware, won the Company of the Year Award (16+ employees). Here they are congratulated by Avana Gjendem of St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino. — Marie Milner photo

4 of 5Karen Johnston of the Kootenay News Advertiser and Cranbrook Daily Townsman and Jason Caven of the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group congratulated Gordon McArthur (centre) on being named Cranbrook's Newsmaker of the Year. — Marie Milner photo

5 of 5Maureen Foxworthy (L) of the Banking Association of Cranbrook presented Heidi Romich of The Heid Out Restaurant & Brewhouse with the Business Person of the Year Award. — Marie Milner photo

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The Cranbrook & District Chamber of Commerce presented its first award for business excellence in Cranbrook in 1991; it was sponsored by the Business Development Bank and awarded to D&H Service (Petro Can) for excellence in customer service. Over the next four years, four more awards were added to the line-up, and they were presented at regular monthly meetings of the chamber members. As of 1998, the awards presentation became an annual evening event, and the number of categories continued to grow.

The chamber hosted its 2014 Business Excellence Awards night on April 5 at the St. Eugene Golf Resort. Of the many Cranbrook companies nominated by their supporters, 36 finalists were selected for nine award categories, and five individuals made the short list for the Business Person of the Year award.

Like the Oscars, the Business Excellence Awards are based on performance in the preceding year. For 2013 the categories and award winners are:

Tourism Excellence: Sam Steele Society
Most Improved Business Image: Key City Gymnastics
Retail Business of the Year: Muriel & Jane’s General Store
Entrepreneurial Spirit: The Painted Crate
Marketer of the Year: St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino
Customer Service Excellence: Max’s Place
Company of the Year (1-15 employees): Nutter’s Bulk & Natural Foods
Company of the Year (16+ employees): Home Hardware
Newsmaker of the Year: Gordon McArthur
Business Person of the Year: Heidi Romich, The Heid Out Restaurant & Brewhouse

The event was ably MC’d by Kyla Cornish and Darcy Kennedy after an introduction by Dave Butler, president of the Cranbrook chamber.

Mike Adams, former chamber president and member of the selection committee, said that for the first time, this year’s selection process included an interview with the principals of the nominated companies.

“It was a great addition to the process,” Adams said. “It gave us the opportunity to hear firsthand about the things that our local business owners are passionate about and committed to, and it gave us a much closer connection to what’s going on in our business community. It was quite inspiring.”