Local business woman Louise Jamieson was awarded the 2016 Hunter Region Business Excellence Award for the Business of the Year on Friday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Her business, Taste of the Country is a café operating out at Hunter Valley Gardens Shopping Village in Pokolbin which has just celebrated their 15th year.
Louise, who has lived in Singleton for 17 years, also won the Hospitality and Tourism category for the night and was thrilled with the result.
A trained Geo-technician Louise’s first foray in hospitality began when she started making jams, pickles and chutneys from fruit and vegetables grown on her family’s farm near Wauchope.
Owners of Hunter Valley Gardens Bill and Imelda Roche bought a jar of her jam and approached Louise to open a shop in their complex.
“Our café has always been different from the other food outlets in our area, with our focus on country style cooking and making our customers feel like they have walked into Nanna’s kitchen,” she said.
“We currently employ 14 staff, with five from Singleton and the rest from surrounding towns. We focus on youth employment, school work experience programs and supporting disadvantaged youth.
“With hospitality being sometimes the first job a young person has, we help them achieve their goals and support them where we can to transition to university or beyond” said Louise.
The Hunter Region Business Excellence Awards are in their 23rd year.
Last time Taste of the Country entered in the awards they won the same categories in 2004 and then 2005.
After a long gap, Louise decided to re-enter them again this year.
“One of my business goals this year was to enter the awards. It’s a great opportunity to showcase our achievements and access where we have excelled in our field and where we need to improve and change.
“One of the hardest things as a small business operator is to keep looking ahead and change with the times. The awards are a great way to do this” Louise said.
This win comes after a huge week where she said her final goodbyes to her mother Fran Hawkins at her memorial service on Monday so she dedicated her win to not just her staff and her amazing customers but her mother as well.