Party time as gala night celebrates the best in business

BALLARAT’S business community has come together for a night of glitz and glamour to celebrate the city’s stars of enterprise and endeavour.

The 600 guests attending the Federation University Commerce Ballarat Business Excellence Awards last Thursday evening were treated to a red carpet welcome complete with live music from a Ballarat Clarendon College band, and bubbles on arrival at the Mercure Ballarat Hotel and Convention Centre, setting the tone for the five-hour gala event that lay ahead.

While the current tough commercial environment was acknowledged, the recurrent theme on the lips of the exalted category award winners was teamwork and community spirit.

Accepting their awards, category winners repeatedly paid generous homage to their teams, their loyal customers and clients, their fellow finalists and the sponsors and organisers that made the memorable highlight on their calendar happen.

“Many businesses have been under siege for the past five years. Your resilience and success are what fuels our great city,” chair of Commerce Ballarat Darren Trigg told guests that included dignitaries and a who’s-who of Ballarat’s business community.

“This evening is also about reflecting on the collective effort that makes our city thrive,” Mr Trigg said.

The 18 award categories spanned trades, retail, customer service, professional services, health and wellbeing, growers and producers and micro or home-based businesses, to name just a few.

The quality of representatives across each category was sufficient to prompt chair of the judging panel, David Wright to announce that “this is probably the most extraordinary collection of businesses we’ve ever seen.”

Between award presentations, a surprise operatic performance, that started with a “singing chef escaping from the kitchen” and went on to feature a stratospheric rendition of Nessun Dorma, about halfway through proceedings, delighted the diners as they worked their way through the three course dinner and formalities.

For the stars of the evening – the hard-working business leaders, workers and innovators – it was a sparkling opportunity to down tools for a moment, reflect, and celebrate their own and each-other’s achievements,and the critical role they all play in making the community tick.

The final results saw Turret Cafe and Catering take out Business of the Year. The very-pleased category winners are covered over the next few pages.