Small-business award finalists run the gamut

Jennifer Johnson, economic development coordinator for Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, which is sponsoring the May 3 event, said about 25 companies were nominated by the general public and members of the chamber’s Small Business Council.

Five companies were chosen as finalists: Amberg Entertainment, 417 Magazine, the Plainview Road location of Family Pharmacy, PaperWise and Springfield Office Supply.

The list contains some familiar names for those who follow the Strube Award. Two of the companies – Amberg Entertainment and PaperWise – have been finalists before.

Nominees filled out an application that listed general company information and five content areas: company history, business or management philosophy, response to challenges, innovative products or services offered, and community-oriented contributions.

A five-member panel – comprised of previous honorees, business school representatives and a member of the chamber’s Small Business Advisory Council – judges each applicant in the five areas on a scale of one to 10; the scores are then added to determine the five finalists and the award winner.

Though only one company wins the award each year, Johnson said the goal is not to single out individual companies.

“Part of the goal of the event is to honor small-business achievement and recognize how important it is to our economy, so we recognize all the top five finalists,” Johnson said.

The award is named for W. Curtis Strube, the late director of the Breech School of Business at Drury University. Strube was instrumental in creating many small-business programs in the area, including the chamber’s Small Business Advisory Council.

Amberg Entertainment

The environment at Springfield-based Amberg Entertainment, 2025 E. Chestnut Expressway, is mostly fun and games.

And employees hope to keep it that way.

The company, founded in 1996 by magician and entertainer Ted Amberg, provides casino parties, karaoke, carnival games, inflatable games and disc jockeys for parties. The business employs 14 full-time staff and uses a large number of part-time workers to put on events for clients.

The company specializes in turnkey service, meaning the client does very little work in putting on an event.

“When we come in, we take an empty field, set up the inflatables and games, hire the entertainers, put the tents in, (and) get the catering,” Amberg said in a recent interview with SBJ. “We want to make (sure) their event is successful, memorable and fun.”

Amberg Entertainment also was a Strube Award finalist in 2004.

Family Pharmacy

In a business that has been hit hard by the recent addition of the Medicare prescription program, the Family Pharmacy location at 220 W. Plainview Road is thriving as a result of the work of its four full-time employees.

Dalene Treadwell, executive assistant for Family Pharmacy, said that owner Lynn Morris works to let people know that the store’s goal is to take care of customers, offering good service and low pricing.

It hasn’t been easy for the business; Morris told SBJ in late March that his company’s 19 locations in the Ozarks were more than $2.2 million behind their 2005 numbers because of a lack of reimbursements from the new Medicare Part D prescription program.

But the company is staying the course by focusing on customer service.

“It’s our great customer service and the way our employees treat the customers there,” Treadwell said. “They really take pride in how they take care of the customers, treat them right and take care of their every need.”

Morris said revenues for the Plainview Road store were between $1.5 million and $2 million in 2005.

417 Magazine

Publisher Gary Whitaker said one of the keys to 417 Magazine’s nomination is its involvement in the community.

“In 2005, we donated something like $75,000 worth of promotional (advertising) pages to various charities and nonprofits, and an equal number of pages of editorial content for coverage of their fund-raising efforts,” Whitaker said. “I suspect that’s one of the things that made us an attractive small business in that we give so much back to those organizations.”

The company, located at 2111 S. Eastgate Ave. is not just giving; it’s receiving, too. Revenue for 2005 totaled $2.1 million, up from $1.4 million in 2004.

The 21 people who work exclusively on 417, plus the others who split time between it and other Whitaker publications, all have an ownership stake in the company through its revenue- and profit-sharing programs. Whitaker said the company returns up to half of its profit to the employees.

“We have a mission statement that says we’re a life-improvement company,” he said. “The philosophy is extended to our employees, to create a creative and professional environment here. Everyone here has an ownership position in that they benefit when the magazine is profitable and successful.”

PaperWise

When Dan Langhofer purchased Salt Lake City-based PaperWise in 2000 and moved it to Springfield, he had no idea that a few years later, his company, now located at 3171 E. Sunshine, would be recognized as a leader in local small business.

“At that point in time I had no talent; they loaded all of the assets of the company onto a semi truck and shipped it to me,” Langhofer said. “We started hiring from the local base, and with the schools in the area and some of the other technology firms in the area, it was very easy to build a top-notch team.”

The digital document-imaging company used its 29 employees to rack up $4 million in 2005 revenue.

And despite the complicated nature of the company’s work – writing, installing and maintaining document-management software – Langhofer said the PaperWise philosophy is simple.

“Do what’s right, do your best, treat others the way you want to be treated, and if you say you’re going to do something, do it or let somebody know why you can’t get it done,” he said.“That’s our entire company manual.”

He added that despite the lack of a strong local client list – the roster stretches through Africa, India and the United Kingdom in addition to all parts of North America – the company is making a stronger effort to give back to the local community, something officials began to focus on after PaperWise was a finalist for the Strube award in 2005.

“One of our focal points, brought about through the nomination last year, is getting re-involved locally,” Langhofer said. “We decided it was really important a year ago to get more involved and share back some of our fortune and blessings back to the community.”

Springfield Office Supply

Overcoming adversity, one of the five criteria for the small business award finalists, is nothing new to Bill Abbott Jr.

Abbott, the president of Springfield Office Supply, 2137 W. Kingsley St., said the late 1980s and early 1990s, which saw the advent of large national supply chains such as Staples, Office Depot and Wal-Mart, led to hard times for smaller local office supply companies.

Abbott’s company, however, overcame the obstacles by doing what it has done since it opened in 1910: providing competitive prices with personalized service. In 2005, Springfield Office Supply revenues exceeded $5.5 million, Abbott said.

The solution to the issue of competitive prices came from the company’s membership in Independent Stationers, an international buying group.

“They take independents like us and pool our resources together to leverage our buying power with the manufacturers,” Abbott said. “Then in turn, what that has done is level the playing field. The big box super stores, they don’t buy their products any cheaper than we do anymore. That leaves a company that has to focus on service after and during the sale, and we can go out into the marketplace and serve our clients better than the super stores do.”

The 25-employee company has used that service to its advantage, staying in business for nearly a century.

“I think when people look at us, they see a company that is solidified,” Abbott said. “We’re more about future success than immediate gratification.”