Posted January 23, 2008

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee -- The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce has announced the finalists for the 2008 Small Business Awards.

The recipients and finalists will be honored on February 20 during the Small Business Awards Luncheon celebrating small business and entrepreneurial excellence in Chattanooga. The event will take place in the Convention Center from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The finalists are:

• 1-20 Employees
  Chattanooga Closet Company
  Chattanooga Coffee Company & Chattz Coffeehouse
  Niedlov’s Breadworks
• 21-50 Employees
  East Tech Company, Inc.
  Mike Collins & Associates, Inc.
  Pointe General Contractors, LLC
• 51-200 Employees
  Aerisyn, LLC
  Custom Custodial, Inc.
  Northwest Georgia Bank

Finalists for the non-profit agency of the year are First Things First, Inc., Siskin Children’s Institute and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga.

“This year we enter the second quarter century of honoring small businesses in Chattanooga,” said Ronelle Sellers, chair of the awards luncheon. “The occasion provides recognition for companies that serve as the economic backbone of our community. It also attests to the Chamber’s long-standing commitment to small business.”

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses in the U.S.:

• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
• Employ about one-half of all private sector employees.
• Pay more than 45 percent of the total U.S. private payroll.
• Generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the last decade.

The Small Business Awards Luncheon is held in conjunction with the Chamber’s Chattanooga Business EXPO, the city’s largest business trade show. The EXPO will take place in the hall adjacent to the luncheon hall from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on February 20. The EXPO, which is free to visitors, will close during the luncheon. For tickets to the Small Business Awards Luncheon call 423-763-4366. To reserve an EXPO booth, call 423-763-4355.

Award Criteria
To qualify for a Small Business Award companies must have been in business for a minimum of three years, have shown exemplary success within their industry, and have displayed a high level of community involvement and corporate citizenship. Non-profit agencies must be committed to ethical practices, engage in community service and exert a positive impact on the community. Candidates for the awards come from the Chamber membership.

SBA Finalists: Category One
In 1998 Kim Campbell founded Chattanooga Closet Company, using her home as the office, donated warehouse space, a used van and $20,000 in capital. Campbell, who has a degree in interior design/space planning, decided against becoming a franchisee and manufacturing her materials. Instead she relied on her own design skills and engaged Schulte Corp. as her supplier.

After two years Campbell bought out her partner and ran the company solo, meeting the challenges of keeping expenses low, maintaining a staff, building an inventory and handling marketing. She strengthened her expertise by networking with other independent closet company owners and joining the National Closet Group and other organizations.

Over the past six years Chattanooga Closet has had an average growth of 31 percent annually. Campbell attributes the company’s success to taking risks—committing to radio advertising, moving outside her home to a Broad Street location and implementing an interactive website.

Campbell says 2007 was very challenging. “Historically, our business mix has been one-third existing homes, one-third remodels and one-third new construction,” she says. “In 2007, starting the second quarter, we saw a dramatic decline in new home construction. We are very pleased to have replaced that business through repeat customers and customer referrals.”

Customers cite Campbell’s professionalism and customer service, her personal involvement and supervision during installation, her creative and customized designs and the high-quality finished product she delivers.

Chattanooga Closet’s philanthropy extends to Habitat for Humanity, the MS Society, 10 local schools and other non-profits.

Eileen Mason and Evelyn Wheeler, former partners in a custom tour business to the Middle East and Europe, joined forces in a new enterprise in 2002 by opening the Chattanooga Coffee Company and Chattz Coffeehouse.

Their goal was to bring the quality and ambiance of the great coffeehouses of Europe to Chattanooga, to offer quality coffee roasted in-house and to support downtown revitalization.

The partners created atmosphere in their 900-square-foot space at 1010 Market Street by removing the interior walls and resurrecting the intricate tray ceiling, decorative tile floor and handsome brick pillars. They acquired coffee roasting skills from an expert roastmaster who enjoyed a successful coffee venture on the West Coast.

Opening both a retail and wholesale business took tremendous effort. At the same time, Mason and Wheeler struggled to overcome the disappointment of having to abandon a successful tour business because of violence overseas.

Two years later Chattz Coffeehouse was nominated for the BBB Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics and received an Honorable Mention in the Small Business Category. The same year Minorities and Women in Business magazine spotlighted Chattz to illustrate Chattanooga’s spirit of entrepreneurism.

Chattz aficionados praise its tasty brews, professional service, friendly staff and pleasing atmosphere. In addition to its retail customers, the company services over 20 wholesale accounts, including The St. John’s Restaurant, CapitalMark Bank, Easy Seafood Restaurant and The Lodge at Buckberry Creek in Knoxville.

The company’s beneficiaries include the Community Kitchen, Chattanooga Area Food Bank and Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library, among others.

Founded in 2002 by John and Angela Sweet, Niedlov’s Breadworks is Chattanooga’s only organic bread baker. The company specializes in naturally-leavened, organic, hand-crafted, artisan breads.

“We strive to create the most beautiful, flavorful and healthy loaves of bread in the area,” says Sweet, who studied at the American Institute of Baking and managed production at Zingerman’s Bakehouse in Ann Arbor, MI.

Starting as a wholesale bakery, Niedlov’s initially supplied bread to fine dining establishments in the downtown area. Its original location was behind the Market Street Tire and Auto on 13th Street. In February 2003, the Sweets began selling bread through grocery outlets and directly to the public at the Chattanooga Market.

A year later Niedlov’s set up a retail counter in the front of the bakery to accommodate walk-in customers. With only 1,500 square feet of manufacturing and retail space, the couple quickly outgrew their location.

In 2007 Niedlov’s took a risk, moving into a transitional area on Main Street in downtown’s Southside. The gamble paid off. By the end of the year Niedlov’s had more than doubled its total monthly sales and number of employees.

The new site in a renovated 80-year-old building at 215 East Main Street allowed the bakery to expand its services to the public by offering a retail bakery/cafe with a wide variety of bread, breakfast pastries, sandwiches, coffee and espresso for customers to enjoy. The property also serves as Niedlov’s production facility.

In addition to helping revive the Main Street district, the business generously donates products to area charities and participates in trade shows that support the Chattanooga economy.

SBA Finalists: Category Two
East Tech Company, Inc. offers precision engineering and custommanufacturing for applications in the power generation, asphalt paving, water treatment, automotive, textile and medical industries.

Business doubled the first two years after East Tech opened its doors in 2004. President and CEO Roger Layne started the company in a 10,000-square-foot building with a $1.2 million investment and $700,000 in state-of-the-art equipment. Three years later East Tech moved to a building in Centre South Riverport, three times the size of the original location.

East Tech uses the most advanced computerized numerical control (CNC) machining technology. Its machining centers are some of the fastest in the industry, and powerful software for modeling parts is used to create two- and three-dimensional geometric forms. High-speed precision equipment, documented quality systems and a documented nuclear machining program all contribute to the products and services East Tech provides.

In addition to excellent service, East Tech engages only the highest quality vendors to ensure 100 percent customer satisfaction.

Layne understands that employees are the company’s most valuable asset. All employees are interviewed several times and undergo intensive training. Their handsome benefits package includes tuition for job-related classes at Chattanooga State. The company, whose customers include TVA, Westinghouse, Astec and Komatsu, was named one of the 100 Fast-Growing Companies in Tennessee in 2007 by Business Tennessee magazine. The magazine pointed out that East Tech’s state-of-the-art equipment for automotive and medical companies makes Chattanooga attractive to businesses in those industries.

East Tech’s philanthropy extends to the Friends of Finley, The Salvation Army, T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital and many other charities.

In 1987 Mike and Karen Collins opened Mike Collins & Associates, Inc. (MCA) to provide IT equipment to Chattanooga businesses at a competitive price and with high quality service. They started the business with one employee in an 8oo-square-foot office. After purchasing their first free standing building in Bonny Oaks Industrial Park in 1995, the owners added a maintenance division. This risky venture, requiring a large capital investment and increased staff, turned into a springboard for growth that doubled the size of the MCA building and staff.

Another milestone was the addition of an in-house leasing division, giving MCA another avenue for offering IT solutions to customers.

Over the years MCA built partnerships with Hewlett Packard, Dell Computers, IBM and other leaders in the industry. By 2006 MCA had again outgrown its space and opened the doors to a new building on Century Oaks Drive with over 23,000 square feet of office and warehouse space.

Today MCA has 42 full-time employees with offices in Chattanooga and Nashville and the ability to service more than 500 customers nationwide through its Depot Maintenance division.

“Over the years MCA has undergone many of the challenges other small business face – including taking out second mortgages, cash flow issues and growing pains,” Mike Collins says. “But we have continued to stay ahead by changing the business to adapt to the ever-changing IT industry.”

MCA receives praise for its competitiveness, competence and responsiveness – qualities that allow it to often win business over larger regional or national service providers.

MCA supports many civic organizations, including the Forgotten Child Fund, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the NAACP and others.

Pointe General Contractors, LLC is a full-service general contractor whose projects range from small interior office renovations to multi-million dollar developments, with a focus on commercial office and automobile dealerships. The company was created to service the needs of a few select area developers. Success led to additional opportunities in the Chattanooga area and throughout the Southeast. In four years Pointe General has grown to employ more than 30 full-time employees and has constructed facilities valued at over $30 million.

Pointe General boasts a diverse construction management team with a combined construction experience of over a century. The company offers employees training in safe work practices, weekly in-house trade and industry technique classes, and outside opportunities through higher education and industry associations.

“Our customers are our friends,” says Pointe General President Rex Allen. “We work tirelessly to get their projects completed on schedule and budget, and we are committed to providing the best customer service in the industry.”

Pointe General’s practices include a deliberate review process of all the suppliers for their projects. “Our suppliers’ performance is a reflection of our standards so it is crucial that we develop the best team for our customers’ projects,” Allen says.

Pointe General supports many charities, including the “Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.” The company is a consistent top fund-raiser for the event and a majority of Pointe General employees participate in the race.

Clients praise Pointe General for conducting “its business with respect for customers and a concern for the community it serves” and for exhibiting “a high level of integrity, skill and competitive respect among other contractors.”

SBA Finalists: Category Three
In its 230,000-square-foot facility Aerisyn, LLC manufactures wind towers with state-of- the-art equipment, including plasma and oxyfuel cutting tables, Faccin rolling machines and the only Head and Tail configuration in North America. “We offer our customers the robust resources, skills and determination required to build each tower customized to our individual customer’s needs and specifications,” says Aerisyn CEO Mike Hohl.

Aerisyn was founded by Wisconsin private investors eager to participate in the fast-growing wind energy market. They leased space for their facility from Alstom which had three large bays available.

Equipment start-up and commissioning began in the fall of 2005 when the first order for 12 towers was secured.

But over the coming months the company struggled from lack of wind tower manufacturing expertise within the organization. A search for a new CEO led to the hiring of Hohl in 2006. Hohl had served as supply chain manager for a global wind turbine manufacturer and as president of a wind tower manufacturer.

Under Hohl’s leadership Aerisyn finished 2006 with a total of 21 completed towers. During 2007 the workforce expanded to 140 employees and production grew to 69 towers. Aerisyn anticipates its 2008 production to exceed 100 towers. Admirers in the industry describe Aerisyn’s managers as “knowledgeable and honorable and active in supporting their communities and creating positive work environments for their employees.”

The company also receives applause for establishing a training school for employees and for manufacturing a renewable energy product.

After managing janitorial services for TVA, Pam Ladd founded Custom Custodial, Inc. in 1995 to create a janitorial company that combined high standards of customer service with fair and equitable human resources practices.

Leaving a high-level corporate position to start a company from scratch was risky and tiring. In the beginning Ladd serviced most of her accounts, working long hours, seven days a week.

While the company enjoyed a high customer retention rate, Custom Custodial occasionally lost a customer. One particularly hard blow occurred shortly after Ladd had expanded her management staff to support company growth.

When several laptops were stolen from a major customer, Custom Custodial cooperated with the investigation and offered to replace the laptops if any janitorial workers were involved. Nonetheless, the customer terminated the contract.

Two months later, the customer had a two-ton safe stolen. Six months later the customer asked Ladd to return. “We were thankful to regain the account,” she says, “ but the eight months without that revenue really hurt.”

The company’s service includes attention to the total care of the customer’s facility. “We should act as a second set of eyes for our customer,” Ladd says. “We should report maintenance and security issues immediately.”

Ladd receives plaudits for creating a company that provides opportunity for introducing many people to the job market, for allowing them upward mobility and for helping those needing a second job.

Ladd was the Chamber’s Business Advocate of the Year in 2003 and a finalist for the ATHENA Award in 2006. Her community involvement includes making annual financial contributions of $10,000 to area charities.

Founded in 1904 as the Bank of Ringgold with $25,000 in capital, Northwest Georgia Bank today is Chattanooga’s largest community bank, with nine branches and more than $620 million in assets.

Northwest opened branches in Hixson and Ooltewah-Collegedale in 2007, and groundbreakings are in the works for three more branches in Tennessee. In February the bank will break ground on a very “green” North Shore branch on Manufacturers Road. Branches are also planned for East Brainerd Road and Highway 58.

The Northwest Way, the bank’s unique approach to doing business, evolved from the bank’s history of service. At the core of the Northwest Way are the Bank’s shared values encircled by a common commitment to customers and the success of the Northwest family. These values are nurtured during weekly Performance Excellence Program (PEP) Practices and tri-annual organization-wide PEP Rallies.

The Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence awarded Northwest its Commitment Award, signifying the bank’s dedication to creating an extraordinary organization. The award reflects the leadership of Northwest chairman & CEO Wes Smith, who serves on the board of the American Bankers Association.

“Through strong civic leadership, community-focused lending and large charitable donations, Northwest’s influence is and has been inestimable,” Smith says. “Our relationships with both customers and vendors are solid and built on service, trust and fairness. Our mission is to serve the community while generating location growth and economic well-being.”

In 2007, Northwest Georgia and its foundation donated more than $721,000 and more than 4,000 community service hours to over 80 local non-profit, civic, and trade organizations, including the T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital, the Chattanooga Downtown Partnership and the Riverbend Festival.

Non-Profit Finalists
First Things First, Inc. (FTF) is a community-based nonprofit initiative dedicated to strengthening families through education, collaboration and mobilization. Goals are to lower the divorce rate and the rate of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and to increase father involvement in the lives of Hamilton County children.

FTF provides skill building workshops for couples, parents, singles and fathers and a resource library. Through mass media FTF educates the public about how to have strong marriages and families. The organization also offers cutting edge training of professionals who work with families.

Formed in 1997, FTF partners with community and religious organizations, foundations, governments, schools and others to help change attitudes and behaviors about the importance of family.

Over the years thousands of people have attended FTF classes and enrichment opportunities, and more than 300 communities across the country have requested training from FTF to start their own healthy marriage and family initiatives.

Last fall FTF received a grant from the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services for development of new programs, services and resources aimed at helping individuals and couples interested in or preparing for marriage, as well as those already in marriages.

FTF has been cited for its “tremendous impact” on the community and described as “the kind of grassroots organization we need to replicate throughout the U.S. to instill the importance of family values in the fabric of our next generation.”

Julie Baumgardner, president and executive director of FTF, spoke at the White House Conference on Helping America’s Youth, testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee about the benefits of marriage and has presented at the Brookings Institute.

Siskin Children's Institute is dedicated to improving the quality of life for children with special needs and their families. The Institute achieves its mission through education and outreach programs, ongoing research in the field of disabilities and very soon in pediatric health care.

“Siskin School provides a quality preschool education to young children with and without disabilities, including children with developmental delays, cerebral palsy and autism spectrum conditions,” says Jerry Jensen, president. “At Siskin School, all children learn and play side-by-side in an environment that celebrates the accomplishments of every child.”

The Siskin Training and Resource Center shares disability information with families, college students and professionals through a dynamic array of outreach programs. The center offers a lending library, community workshops, and training and consultation services for professionals in education, health care and related fields.

Siskin Children's Institute strives to be on the cutting edge of educational programming for children with disabilities. One of the ways this occurs is through research in the fields of special education and therapy. The Institute's research efforts are led by Dr. Tom Buggey, who holds the Endowed Siskin Children's Institute Chair of Excellence at UTC.

Praise for the Institute is summed up by an admirer who writes, “The children who are able to attend Siskin Children’s Institute are truly fortunate, and the families of those children are deeply moved by the Institute’s care for their children.”

The YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga programs and services include health and fitness activities, child care, day camp, resident camp, youth sports, family enrichment and over 30 programs for children and youth that provide tutoring, mentoring, wholesome recreation and community involvement.

Through these programs the YMCA contributes to the health of the community, supports families, builds tomorrow’s leaders, supports the educational system, works to prevent juvenile crime, promotes good citizenship and volunteerism and give parents of all incomes a caring and safe child care environment.

The YMCA’s mission is to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build a healthy spirit, mind and body for all. The YMCA is an inclusive organization that provides scholarships for programs and services so that no one is turned away for inability to pay.

In 2007 almost 70,000 individuals participated in the YMCA as members, program participants, volunteers, staff or donors. From January through November of 2007 the YMCA had provided scholarships totaling over $1.7 million.

“The YMCA is extraordinary in its willingness to partner with other organizations, the variety of its programs, the number of people who benefit from its services, the scope and level of involvement of its boards and volunteers and its emphasis on the YMCA core values of honesty, caring, respect, responsibility and faith,” says YMCA Chairman and CEO Randy A. Brown.

Small Business Award sponsors are EBP, Northwest Georgia Bank, Unum, Chattem, Cohutta Bank, Henderson Hutcherson and McCullough, McKee Foods Corp., Regions and Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union.