Discovery Co-operative Ltd. took home the biggest prize Tuesday night at the annual Battlefords Business Excellence (BBEX) awards.
The awards took place at the Dekker Centre in North Battleford, organized and presented by the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce.
As always, the most prestigious honour was Business of the Year. In previous years there had been nominations for this category, but this year for the first time the recipient was selected from among the finalists in all six of the open categories, which made for a more exciting than usual announcement.
Discovery Co-op had been nominated in the marketing category, and as it turned out did not win that award, so winning the Business of the Year proved a big surprise for Randy Graham, board president of Discovery Co-op, who accepted the award from Battlefords MLA Herb Cox.
"Wow," said Graham to reporters after.
"I had no expectation of this. When you look at the list of nominees that were on the venue tonight, amazing, I'm still astounded."
He believes the honour may have something to do with the expansion activity underway at the Co-op. They opened a new gas bar in Battleford, in addition to their new North Battleford gas bar near Walmart, and a major expansion is underway to Territorial Place Mall to add a supply storage warehouse.
"We're helping drive the economic activity within our community, but at the same time we're also creating employment," said Graham. As well, from an equity standpoint they were able to return $1.6 million to their members.
"This really is from the community," said Graham. "Our community is strong, our businesses are strong, and it's just a testament to what's going on in the Battlefords right now."
The other BBEX recipients are as follows:
Fortier Mattila Appraisals Ltd. was recipient of the Heritage Award, which is the only category in which the recipient is selected and made known prior to awards night.
The business was founded by Howard Mattila in 1971 and has been a full-service appraisal business with branches in several communities in the region.
He and Jack Mattila offered longtime staffer David Fortier the chance to purchase the company in 2012, and he has continued to expand the business. Fortier was grateful to accept the award.
"It's a great honour. I guess we're all a little bit shocked, we've never won the BBEX award," he said.
As for why their business received the BBEX Heritage Award, "it speaks more to Howard's contribution than mine," said Fortier. "He was very involved for a long time and it's a great honour to honour him with this tonight."
For Community Contribution, there was only one nominee, Frazer’s No Frills, the grocery store open in North Battleford since 2010. Frazer and Jennifer Bonin accepted on behalf of the business.
Micro Business was another category in which there was only one nominee, and the award went to Artrageous Custom Art Finishing & Gallery. Jocelyn Schmunk accepted on behalf of the business.
For Marketing, the BBEX award went to Splish Splash Auto, RV & Pet Wash. Gloria Winterhalt and David Materi accepted on its behalf.
Other nominees were Discovery Co-operative Ltd., Freedom Skate and Snow, Logan’s Family of Businesses, North West College, and Norsask Farm Equipment Ltd.
In New Business Venture, the award went to E & L Building Contractors Ltd. Other nominees were Freedom RV & Marine, Great Canadian Oil Change, Salon Platinum and Splish Splash Auto, RV & Pet Wash.
In Customer Service the nominees were Bee-J’s Office Plus, Great Canadian Oil Change, Kelly’s Computer Works, Kitchen Zone, Oil Can Charlie’s Ltd., Sallows and McDonald - Wilson & Zehner Funeral Service and Westwood Turf Farm. The winner was Sallows and McDonald - Wilson & Zehner Funeral Service and accepting the award was Christie Doyle.
Finally the winner in the category of Battlefords’ Best Employer was Loraas Environmental Services Ltd. Ruebecca Fiddler accepted on the company's behalf. The other nominees in the category were WPD Ambulance and River Valley Eye Care.
