Owners shocked, humbled by recognition

Being named as the top large business of the year was humbling for the owners of Cobs Bread. The company was named Large Business of the Year for seven or more employees at the Okotoks & District Chamber of Commerce’s annual Business Excellence Awards on Oct. 18. “It hits me every time, right here,” Cobs co-owner Lee Hodgins told the crowd of 200 at the Foothills Centennial Centre. “We love what we do and we’re going to keep doing it another five years at least.” He and wife Kelly opened Cobs Bread in Okotoks with the goal to give back to the community right from the get-go, he said in an interview afterwards. “It’s been nothing but great since we started,” said Hodgins. Despite Cobs having a noticeable community presence at events and through donations to a number of local charitable groups, Kelly said it still comes as a surprise each year even to be nominated for an award. Cobs Bread received the Business Leadership Award in 2015 and the Outstanding Customer Service for a business in 2017. “It’s always surprising,” said Kelly. “We get nominated for different categories, but you never expect to win. We just go to work every day and do the best we can. “We love the community, giving back and doing all the events we do is probably the funnest part of our job.” The team at Lube Town Okotoks was just as shocked to hear they’d won the Small Business of the Year award for six or fewer employees. “We didn’t expect this,” said team member Benjie Palomo. “Of course it’s important we give to the community, the effort we give, we are above and beyond excellence when it comes to customer service because we always do our best.” The Best New Business award, for a business open less than 18 months, went to a six-month-old restaurant in town. Little Fast + Fresh owners Michelle and Jarod Traxel were blown away by their win. “It’s crazy,” said Michelle. “We kind of just opened the doors and did our thing and hoped we would reach some people. “To see people appreciate us and go out of their way to nominate us, it’s really humbling. It’s really amazing.” They opened their business on Riverside Gate with the idea of providing healthy, real food to busy people on the go – something they could relate to. Jarod had been commuting to Calgary while Michelle was busy at home with their children when they decided to leap into the business. “It was food we really wanted in our life and we just wanted to find a way to do it,” said Michelle. Jarod said the idea was to bring the community something it might appreciate and do what they wanted for their own lives at the same time. To be recognized and see how their work is affecting others has been an incredible experience, he said. “It’s nuts,” said Jarod. “We’re just really doing what we wanted to do, and we were hoping people would really dig it.” The Business Excellence Awards winners for 2018 were as follows: Extra Large Business of the Year: Shoppers Drug Mart Okotoks Environmental Responsibility: Chem Free Cleaning / One Tree Cleaning Home Based Business: Obsession Handmade Chocolates Community Impact: Rebel Bean Roasters Outstanding Customer Service (Business): Fisher Crescent Retail Outstanding Customer Service (Individual): Carly Hauck, Western Financial Group Social Profit Award: Foothills Advocacy in Motion New Business of the Year: Little Fast + Fresh Business of the Year, Small Business (6 or fewer employees): Lube Town Okotoks Business of the Year, Large Business (7 or more employees): COBS Bread