As published in Toledo Business Journal - February 1, 2010
The 2010 Best of Lake Erie West Business awards program recognizes area companies and professional firms that have displayed an exceptional approach to conducting business. The program has been an effort to involve local professionals in identifying area organizations whose approach to operations has distinguished their corporation or professional practice. Business conduct that nominators and voters were asked to consider included one or more of the following criteria: exceptional quality of products and services, exceptional service to customers, exceptional relationship to suppliers, and/or exceptional attention to ethics in business activities and transactions.
The 2010 Best of Lake Erie West Business recognition was conducted with a call for nominations and votes from readers of Toledo Business Journal, Development News, and Lake Erie West Manufacturing & Construction News. Multiple solicitations of readers occurred during October, November, and December 2009. In addition, a series of communications to owners and senior executives at area companies as well as partners and principals at area professional practices was also used to solicit nominations and votes. Through the use of targeted business publications and select mailings, solicitation of nominations and votes was aimed at owners and senior decision-makers at area corporations and professional practices.
To increase interest and participation, an offer of $2,000 of ad space in Toledo Business Journal was made. Participants who completed the voting process were offered a chance to have their company entered into a drawing to win this ad space.
Participants could choose to vote in three separate areas that included business, health, and manufacturing and construction. They could vote in one, two, or three of these areas. Within each area there were separate categories of business representing a broad range of markets covering significant economic activity in the region. There are over 50 market categories included in the program.
All participants were directed to Toledo Business Journal’s website at www.toledobiz.com. Voters were asked to include their name, company name, and contact information. Only ballots that contained complete voter identity information were included. This information was used to limit an individual to casting only one ballot in each of the three survey areas. In addition, software was put in place to allow only one ballot submittal from a computer for each of the three areas. Participants attempting multiple submittals from a computer received an electronic rejection notification if a ballot had been previously cast.
Voters were asked to select one nominee company in each market category. They were then asked to identify if they or their business was a customer of the nominee company. An approach was set up to weight each vote cast for companies that are a supplier of goods and services to a participating voter. This approach was used in order to incorporate the experience of customers of each of the nominee businesses and to have this experience impact the selection results.
Participants were also asked to identify the name of their business. An approach was put in place to weight the votes from individuals employed outside a nominee company. The number of votes accepted from owners and employees of a nominee has been limited.
It is important to note that the selection process is not a scientific examination of nominee businesses. The Best of Lake Erie West Business recognition is simply an assessment that incorporates the total votes cast by area business and other professionals into an approach that includes the weighting of experience by customers who have firsthand knowledge of the business or professional firm.
The response to our call for nominations and votes was well received and far exceeded expectations. It must be noted that the Best of Lake Erie West Business recognition is a young program and the selection process will continue to evolve and improve with time and experience.
An important thank you to all the business and other professionals who took the time to nominate and vote for area companies that have distinguished themselves through their approach to conducting business.
A special congratulations to each of the companies and professional firms recognized in the 2010 Best of Lake Erie West Business program.
BEST OF LAKE ERIE WEST BUSINESS 2010
| ACCOUNTING FIRM | ||
| · Gilmore,
Jasion
& Mahler, LTD |
· Plante & Moran, PLLC | · William Vaughan Company |
| BOTTLED WATER | ||
| · Collingwood Water | · Culligan of Northwest Ohio | |
| BUSINESS RECORDS DESTRUCTION | ||
| · AccuShred | · Allshred Services, Inc. | |
| CATERER | ||
| · City Q BBQ | · Gladieux Catering | · Premier Catering |
| COFFEE BREAK SERVICE | ||
| · Aramark Refreshment Services | · Creative Refreshments Inc | |
| COMMERCIAL PRINTER | ||
| · HOT Printing + Graphics | · Homewood Press, Inc. | · Metzgers |
| COMPUTER DEALER | ||
| · Computer Discount | · Virtual PC’s | · Virtual Technologies Group |
| COPY MACHINE DEALER | ||
| · Enterprise Office Systems | · Goodremont’s Inc. | · MT Business Technologies |
| CREDIT UNION | ||
| · Directions Credit Union | · Glass City Federal Credit Union |
· Great Lakes Credit Union |
| DELIVERY SERVICE – LOCAL | ||
| · Black & White Transportation | · Priority Dispatch | · Reliable Delivery |
| DIRECT MAIL | ||
| · Gilbert Mail Service | · Mail It Corp. | · Mail Works II |
| FINANCIAL PLANNING | ||
| · Bollin Wealth Management | · Creative Financial Partners | · Savage and Associates Inc. |
| FLEET VEHICLE DEALER | ||
| · Penske Truck Rental | · Ryder | |
| INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER | ||
| · Buckeye TeleSystem | · TOAST.net | |
| OFFICE CLEANING SERVICE | ||
| · Atlas Cleaning Services | · Toledo Building Services | |
| OFFICE FURNITURE | ||
| · Clair David Office Furniture & Design |
· Express
Office Products Corp. |
· NBS
Commercial
Interiors |
| PAYROLL PREPARATION SERVICE | ||
| · Data Service Center Inc. | · Paychex, Inc. | · Payroll Solutions |
| PERSONNEL STAFFING | ||
| · Adecco | · Renhill | · The Mergis Group |
| PUBLIC RELATIONS | ||
| · FLS Marketing | · Hart Associates | |
| SECURITY GUARD SERVICE | ||
| · Continental Secret Service Bureau, Inc. | · Job1USA | |
| SECURITY / ALARM SERVICE | ||
| · Asset Protection Corporation | · Guardian Burglar Alarm | · Habitec Security, Inc. |
| SIGN BUSINESS | ||
| · Gardner Signs, Inc. | · Harmon Sign | |
| STOCK BROKER | ||
| · Merrill Lynch | · Morgan
Stanley Smith Barney LLC |
|
| TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT BUSINESS | ||
| · CDS Telco | · Convergentech | |
| TRAVEL AGENCY | ||
| · AAA Northwest Ohio | · Central Travel | |
TRUCK DEALER – LIGHT VEHICLES |
||
| · Charlie’s
Dodge Chrysler Jeep |
· Dave White Chevrolet | · Yark Automotive Group |
WEBSITE DESIGN |
||
| · Aardvark, Inc. | · Thread Information Design | |
WIRELESS RETAILER |
||
| · 2BMobile | · American
Cellular Enterprises, Inc. |
· Cellular Central Inc. |
BEST OF LAKE ERIE WEST HEALTH 2010
CARDIOLOGY PRACTICE |
||
| · Northwest
Ohio Cardiology Consultants |
· UT Heart
&
Vascular Center |
|
CHIROPRACTIC PRACTICE |
||
· First
Choice |
· Frame
Family Wellness Center |
· HealthSource Chiropractic |
COSMETIC SURGERY PRACTICE |
||
| · Arrowhead Plastic Surgeons | · Dr. James Hunyadi | · Frank Barone Plastic Surgery |
DENTAL PRACTICE |
||
| · Corner Dental | · Frankel Dentistry | · Spring Valley Dental |
FUNERAL HOME |
||
| · Reeb Funeral Home | · Walker Funeral Homes | |
HEALTH / FITNESS CLUB |
||
| · Urban Active | · Wildwood Athletic Club | |
HOSPITAL |
||
| · Mercy St.
Vincent Medical Center |
· St. Luke’s Hospital | · The Toledo Hospital |
MEDICAL IMAGING / RADIOLOGY PRACTICE |
||
| · ProMedica Radiology | · Toledo
Radiological Associates Inc. |
|
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH |
||
| · Concept Rehab, Inc. | · OccuHealth | ·
Occupational Care Consultants |
OPTICAL GOODS RETAILER |
||
| · Franklin Park Vision | · Optical Arts, Inc. | · The Optical Shop |
OPTOMETRY PRACTICE |
||
| · OptiVue | · Reed Vision Associates | · Vision Associates, Inc. |
RETIREMENT COMMUNITY |
||
| · Kingston HealthCare | · Lutheran
Village at Wolf Creek |
· Sunset
Retirement Communities |
BEST OF LAKE ERIE WEST
MANUFACTURING & CONSTRUCTION 2010
ARCHITECTURAL FIRM |
||
| · Poggemeyer
Design Group, Inc. |
· SSOE Group | · The Collaborative Inc |
COMMERCIAL EQUIPMENT RENTAL |
||
| · NES Rentals | · Ohio CAT | · Sunbelt Rentals |
COMMERCIAL ROOFING CONTRACTOR |
||
| · Holt Roofing Co. | · Nordmann Roofing | · Overhead
Roofing & Sheet Metal |
ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR |
||
| · Laibe Electric Company | · Romanoff Electric Co., LLC. | · Transtar
Electric, Security & Technologies |
ENGINEERING FIRM |
||
| · Bowser-Morner, Inc. | · JDRM Engineering, Inc. | · The Mannik
& Smith Group, Inc. |
FIRE & WATER DAMAGE CONTRACTOR |
||
| · AAA Standard Services, Inc. | · Cousino
Harris Disaster Kleenup |
· Wolverine Restoration, LLC |
MACHINING & TOOLING BUSINESS |
||
| · Jerl Machine, Inc. | · Lockrey Manufacturing | |
MECHANICAL CONTRACTOR |
||
| · Dimech Services Inc. | · Dunbar Mechanical, Inc. | · GEM Inc. |
TRUCK DEALER – HEAVY VEHICLES |
||
| · Ed Schmidt Truck Store | · Peterbilt of Northwest Ohio | · Whiteford Kenworth |
UNIFORM SERVICE |
||
| · Aramark Uniform Services | · Arrow Uniform | · Cintas |
WAREHOUSING & STORAGE |
||
| · Ampoint | · Interstate Cold Storage, Inc. | · Willis Day Storage Company |
WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICE |
||
| · Allied Waste Services | · Stevens
Disposal & Recycling Service, Inc. |
|