The Business Awards are back
on the calendar!
After an absence of four years, the Business Excellence
Awards are now back as part of the business year in Hutt
City. Wednesday 7th November saw the Town Hall packed for
the gala dinner and the presentation of the Awards for 2007.
Leo Austin, Chairman of major sponsor Business
Hutt Valley Limited, said that the forty entries
were of a very high standard, confirming his board’s
decision to get the event back into the business programme
for the year.
The Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence
Awards were proudly sponsored by:
EVENTS AND FACILITIES AWARD
The Events and Facilities category is to recognise those
businesses that add a special dimension to living in or visiting
the Hutt.
Despite the diversity of the finalists they have all become
known in their different ways for their contribution to the
community. The one thing they all showed in common was their
commitment to being the best.
The finalists in the Events and Facilities Category were:
- La Bella Italia
- Te Omanga Hospice
- TheNewDowse
And the winner was:
La Bella Italia
La Bella Italia aims to be the “authentic
Italian experience” from the moment the customer
walks through the door.
La Bella Italia has all things Italian. It is
known throughout the region as the place to go to shop
for Italian delights, from olive oil and limoncello to
salami and cheese and pasta. Founder Antonio Cacace likes
to treat his customers as family and spends time to talk
to them and make them feel at home.
La Bella Italia is continually innovating. Antonio
offers personally-guided tours to his home region in Italy
and has recently introduced demonstration dinners where
customers can learn how to cook the authentic Italian way.
The creative flair shown in establishing and growing this
business has made it a destination that is sought out by
both locals and visitors.
GIBSON SHEAT EXPORTER AWARD
Exports are often described as the “life blood” of
the New Zealand economy and the Hutt Valley is home to many
exciting and innovative companies. Selling a product into
overseas markets requires skill and dedication and it is
not for the faint hearted. In this category, the judges were
looking for those extra success factors such as extensive
knowledge of target markets and a commitment to productivity
improvements, combined with a very clear vision of where
the company was going.
The finalists in this category were –
- Hakes Marine
- Robinson Seismic
- Tritec Manufacturing
And the winner was:
Tritec Manufacturing
Founded in 1998, Tritec Manufacturing Limited has developed
from a contract manufacturer into a design and marketing-led
business with a commitment to maintaining manufacturing
capacity in New Zealand.
The company’s success has been built on its world-leading
product “Mountain Buggy”. With global distribution
including significant sales in USA, Europe, Scandinavia,
United Kingdom and Australia, Mountain Buggy enjoys a reputation
for quality, strength, reliability and safety.
Despite this outstanding international success, Tritec
is not a one-product company. Their other products include
commercial furniture, van seating and theatre/auditorium
seating, much of which is also exported.
HUTT CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
AWARD
ICT covers a very wide range of activity and is an essential
part of most businesses today. The entrants in this category
are companies that are providing ICT solutions ranging from
software to infrastructure and doing it with an entrepreneurial
flair.
Given the wide range of products and services, the judges
were looking for great products, an on-going commitment to
research and development and staffing policies that helped
them to find and keep good people in an industry where the
best staff can be hard to get.
The finalists in the ICT category were:
And the winner was –
Eyede
Eyede is an innovative technology company that which
has gained national and international recognition through
the strength of its technical capabilities and the development
of unique information management applications.
The company has extensive experience in database management,
identity credentials and plastic card solutions. They are
a truly entrepreneurial company which is growing rapidly
and unlocking the enormous potential they have identified.
While achieving this growth, Eyede has developed and
enhanced its capabilities to ensure that it can continue
its successful journey.
MANUFACTURING AWARD
The Hutt Valley has a reputation as a strong manufacturing
base and home to many well-known companies. The companies
that are doing well show a commitment to productivity improvement,
staff development and research and development. As well as
looking for these qualities, the judges were also looking
for that extra flair that made a good business into an outstanding
business. the finalists in the manufacturing category were–
- Baseline
- Silbery Longrun
- Stansborough Fibres
And the winner was:
Stansborough Fibres Limited
Stansborough Fibres not only create beautiful textiles,
they also grow, monitor, design and weave their wool from
sheep to shop.
Their range of fabrics covers fashion, film costumes,
exclusive interior and boutique lodge collections, men’s
and women’s accessories and baby wear. Their products
are beautiful, creative, warm and practical, and they are
100% New Zealand made.
Stansborough has developed niche export markets around
the world and has recently expanded its production spaces
to meet the ever-increasing demand for its products.
The recent addition of “The Stansborough Experience” has
added a new dimension, unique in New Zealand, giving visitors
a taste of history that covers the story of family pride
and pioneering heritage.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AWARD
The Professional Services category is for all those businesses
which provide services to improve our day-to-day lives and
to enhance other businesses. The category is wide and the
entries were diverse but the judges found high standards
and excellent business practices in many of them.
The finalists in this category were –
- Datamail
- Masterpet
- The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand
And the winner was:
Datamail
Datamail is part of the New Zealand Post Group and operated
predominantly in the Business Process Outsourcing market.
Their Petone base is one of six sites in New Zealand and
the company has the scale to manage the largest print and
mail jobs in the country.
A business with a strong community focus, a passion for
innovation and best practice processes, Datamail has seen
significant growth in business and staff numbers over the
last twelve months.
A particular feature of this entry was the company’s
commitment to sustainable business practices, which has
seen its waste to landfill reduced by 80%.
It demonstrates a strong ethos of staff engagement through
regular surveying of the people in the organisation and
there is a formal leadership training programme with recognition
of potential for future development of people across the
organisation.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SMALL BUSINESS AWARD
This was, in some ways, the most difficult category to
judge. A small business was defined as having fewer that
10 full-time equivalent staff and this meant that any type
of businesses was eligible to enter. This diversity is reflected
in the four finalists – two restaurants, a pharmacy
and a recruitment company.
Despite this, the judges were able to identify success
factors that were common to all the finalists–
- a clear vision of where the business is going and how
it is going to get there
- a commitment to employing good staff and training them
well
- constant creativity and seeking for new products and
new opportunities
The finalist in the Small Business Category were –
- Buzz Restaurant
- Clive’s Unichem
- Key Skills Recruitment
- Mange-tout Restaurant
And the winner was:
Buzz Restaurant
Buzz is more than just a café or a restaurant.
It has grown beyond being just a food place to a venue
of choice and a place of local entertainment.
The Buzz Concept is the evolving business concept which
gives Buzz its clear definition and sets it apart from
other food outlets. The owners, Michael and Hilary Gray
have an on-going passion and commitment to Positively Outrageous
Service which is seen in all the components of the Buzz
Concept
- Buzz Café
- Buzz Restaurant
- Buzz Juices
- Buzz Gallery
- Buzz Comedy Club and Buzz Jazz Club
- Buzz Theme Dinners
In the end, there was very little to separate the four
finalists but the judges felt that Buzz Restaurant’s
track record in meeting increasing competition and creating
new experiences for its customers gave it the edge.
BUSINESS HUTT VALLEY SUPREME AWARD
The winner was Buzz Restaurant
Judges comments:
The focus of these awards was business excellence, which
was been measured by each business’s commitment to:
- Creating a unique position in the market place
- Fostering innovation and creativity
- Developing its staff to their full potential, and
- Working towards a sustainable future.
All the finalists scored well on these criteria and, in
many cases it was hard to choose between them.
However, even against this strong competition, Buzz
Restaurant stood out for its continuing innovation,
its flair and creativity and its success in a strongly
competitive environment.
Michael and Hilary Gray are to be congratulated on “the
Buzz Concept” and the way that they have used it to
make “Buzz” such a success and such a valuable
addition to Hutt City’s many attractions.”
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