The Alternate Root was the big winner at the Business Uralla Awards on Friday night, with the host venue and its team collecting a string of major honours.
The café won the individual awards for Outstanding Apprentice or Trainee, claimed by school-based apprentice chef Aiden Nordstrom, and Outstanding Employee, awarded to Grace Hull.
Co-owners Berdina Warne and Andy Neary also accepted Excellence in Sustainability and Excellence in Medium Business on behalf of The Alternate Root.
Warne said the business was keen to share what it had learnt with other local operators looking to reduce their environmental impact.
“Our sustainable practices are really important to me,” she said. “If you are thinking about how to put sustainable practices within your business, I would love to help you in that too.”
Neary credited the venue’s 35 staff members for making practical sustainability changes possible.
“There’s two of us standing up here, but we have 35 staff, and we get excited about little things and little changes,” he said. “Without everybody coming together and working as a team, it just wouldn’t happen.”
Accepting the medium-business award in the venue’s own function space, Neary joked: “We promise it’s not rigged.”
He said the awards reflected the support of the business’s wider community. “It’s our family, our wives, our husbands, all of our crew — they make this place what it is,” he said.
Warne also took out Excellence in Small Business for her other venture, Little Birdy. She praised its team and the business’s role in supporting 35 stallholders selling handmade goods, antiques and other products.
“It’s lovely to give that support to other people,” she said.
Other winners included Nash Goodwin Photography for Excellence in Micro Business. Goodwin, a young entrepreneur still at school, was also the official photographer for the evening.
While Uralla Community Neighbourhood Centre was named Outstanding Community Group, while Donna Harris, a Thermomix consultant, received Outstanding New Business,
Harris said starting her business last April had transformed her confidence and led her to become a team leader.
“This is is just the best thing. I started this business in April last year, having no background in doing anything like this before, and I found out that it’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“The confidence that I have gained from starting this business has been amazing, and doing it successfully for the last 12 months or so has given me the added confidence to step up and become a team leader, which I did last week, and now I have my own team of consultants.”
“To me, it’s all about building a community, not just a business,” she said.
Donna also won a $1000 advertising package from New England Times.
This year was the first time Business Uralla aligned its awards program with the Business NSW Awards, allowing entrants to submit one nomination that can progress to the New England North West Regional Awards and the Business NSW State Awards later in the year.
Something going on in your part of the New England people should know about? Let us know by emailing newsdesk@netimes.com.au