Askinosie Chocolate wins chamber’s Small Business Award

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce named Askinosie Chocolate LLC the 2017 2017 recipient of the W. Curtis Strube Small Business Award.

The small-batch, award-winning chocolate factory earned the honor during a luncheon today at University Plaza.

From its Commercial Street headquarters, Shawn Askinosie’s Askinosie Chocolate sources 100 percent of its beans directly from farmers. In January 2016, it was named as one of the 25 Best Small Companies in America by Forbes magazine, which reported Askinosie Chocolate’s annual revenues of $2 million as of that month.

"It's a recognition of how important it is to care for other people,” Askinosie said when accepting the award. “It’s important us that we recognize the responsibility we have to solve social problems. Without government help, we can actually solve problems. It's our mission and we're thankful that we have that opportunity.”

Askinosie Chocolate beat out other Small Business Award finalists:
    •    Computer Recycling Center;
    •    Greek Corner Screen Printing & Embroidery;
    •    Grooms Office Environments; and
    •    Revel Advertising.

The finalists and winning selection were chosen by the chamber’s independent judging panel. Last year’s winner was software and app development firm Interactive Dynamics LLC.

Scored by an independent panel of judges, recipients are determined by written applications with essays on company history, management philosophy, responses to challenges, innovation in product and service offerings, and contributions to the community.

Read full profiles on all five finalists in SBJ’s upcoming May 8 edition.