Greater Utica Chamber gears up for Business of the Year Awards

UTICA, N.Y. — The Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for one of its biggest annual events, the Business of the Year Awards.

The awards honor members in five different categories — for-profit business with 50 or fewer employees, for-profit business with over 50 employees, not-for-profit with 50 or fewer employees, not-for-profit with more than 50 employees, and the newest category, catalyst rising business, which honors a company in business for five years or less.

The event is an important one not only for the winners, but also for the broader regional business community, the chamber says.

“It really puts a spotlight on business and gives people the opportunity to see a little bit more about an organization,” Kari Puleo, executive director of the Greater Utica Chamber, says.

The deadline for nominations is Sept. 1. Nominees must be current chamber members. All nominated businesses will receive a more detailed form to complete, and the chamber’s executive committee reviews all nominees to determine three finalists for each category.

Representatives from each finalist company are interviewed in a video package that helps people learn more about the business, its core values, its products and services, and how it has innovated and changed. All businesses are asked the same series of questions, which are once again reviewed by the executive committee to determine the winners in each category.

The process really spotlights things that might not be part of the everyday conversation, Puleo notes. “Some businesses are really committed to philanthropy. Some businesses are really committed to developing their workforce.”

Last year, people really got to see what one area business did to help other businesses during the pandemic, she says. Casa Imports, which won last year in the for-profit business with more than 50 employees category, worked overtime to make sure the area’s many restaurants were supplied with to-go containers when they all had to close to in-person dining at the height of the pandemic, Puleo says. 

“I’m sure nobody anticipated how many to-go containers they needed,” she says, but Casa did everything it could to make sure its customers had what they needed.

The catalyst rising business category, added in 2017, turns the spotlight on the area’s newest businesses, she adds. It gives these new businesses an opportunity to shine without having to compete with more established companies, she says.

The Business of the Year Awards is one of numerous in-person chamber events for 2022 as the Greater Utica Chamber celebrates its 125th anniversary. 

With people eager to get out and network again, the chamber hosted previous favorites and added new events this year. Members are excited about the monthly Business After Hours events, Puleo says, adding that she’s been seeing many new faces at the gatherings.

This year, the chamber is mixing together elements of the past two Business of the Year events, Puleo says. In 2020, pandemic restrictions caused the chamber to create a one-hour television special honoring the finalists and winners. In 2021, the chamber held an in-person event, but attendance was down a bit from previous years. “I think we were still feeling a little bit of that COVID crunch,” Puleo notes.

The Greater Utica Chamber will celebrate this year with an in-person event on Dec. 8 at Hart’s Hill Inn in Whitesboro but will also profile finalists and winners for a new TV special that will air at the end of the year. The special also recaps the chamber’s year that was.