Members of the local business community came together to celebrate as the North Delta Business Association handed out its inaugural Boom Award earlier this month.
Representatives from around 50 NDBA members took part in the award reception at Tsawwassen Springs on Dec. 5 to honour a business that “embodied the spirit of standing out and being different in 2023.”
Delta Mayor George Harvie, who spoke at the event, called the new award “a valuable platform to showcase the innovative endeavours of local businesses.”
“As the winner is unveiled tonight, let us celebrate their success and the collective spirit of innovation that unites us all,” Harvie said in a press release.
The NDBA put out a call for nominations in late October, asking companies to tell them the things they have been done to boost business, moves they have made to serve customers better and differentiate themselves from their competitors, and innovations they have tried to attract new business.
At this month’s award reception, NDBA vice-president and chief marketing officer Roy Osing announced the winners of the new award (a trophy shaped like a stick of dynamite) were Matt Baydala and Andrew Holt, co-owners of Bayside Enterprise — a new umbrella name for the pair’s two parallel businesses, Augusta Lawn Care Services and Bayside Lawn and Garden.
”We need businesses to be different and to stand out in a way their customers care about,” Osing said in a press release. “We need businesses to provide outstanding service and to innovate with ideas that pop. And Bayside has clearly demonstrated that to us in 2023.”
Baydala said he was surprised to win the Boom Award, adding he and Holt were thrilled to receive it and for all that it represents for their business.
“It recognizes the changes we’ve made, how we serve our customers, how we involve and reward our staff, and the operational and expansion plans we’ve put in place for the future,” Baydala said in a press release.
The NDBA officially launched in April of 2022 after a two-year delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the association to cancel a planned business summit and other events.
In the last year and a half, it has grown to more than 100 members.
“We say ours is the only association that will link you to other businesses, connect you with experts to help you lead and grow your business, and constantly challenge you to do things differently,” NDBA president and founding director Ian Tait told the Reporter in an interview last year.
“I think that’s where we differ from other organizations — we’re not about marketing North Delta, we’re about encouraging our members to grow and learn and do things differently.”
As part of doing things differently, the NDBA is a virtual organization — no storefront, only a post office box — allowing it to be “lean, mean and focused on delivering,” Tait said.
As well, membership in the NDBA, which costs $100 per year, is inclusive and not restricted by geography.
“Here’s a terrific opportunity for any business — non-profit, storefront, home-based, desktop, shared workspace, kitchen table, virtual or other. There’s no encumbrance; you don’t have to live here, you don’t have to work here,” Tait said.
“We’re not saying no to anybody. But what we will do is concentrate on things that are important to the commercial interests of North Delta-based businesses.”
Tait said the NDBA can be an umbrella under which the business community can come together, share information, network and advocate — something North Delta businesses haven’t had in decades.
“From what I’ve been hearing, [it’s] long overdue,” he said.
“Every business has been operating in isolation. Here’s a chance where you can use membership to meet and link up with organizations and be able to share opinions and speak with one voice. And I don’t think there’s ever been a conduit through to the other [Delta business] organizations — or to city hall for that matter — for the business community here.”
“We can be that ‘catch-all,’ as it were.”
For more info, visit northdeltabusiness.ca.
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