It's one of the most coveted awards in the region, In fact, it's the world's largest service prize, and there are now ten local business enterprises ready for the week long battle for the badge of honor that is the Celebration! Cinema Celebrated Service Award. Those ten companies now face off in the public vote with anticipation of thousands of votes due to be cast through cell phone texting.
Emily Loeks from Celebration! Cinema says public voting begins today, Wednesday, November 2nd and runs through next Thursday, November 10th with the award winners to be announced at noon on Friday, November 11th.
The Celebrated Service Award has three key goals. One is to use the power of storytelling as a teaching and training tool for Celebration! Cinema employees, who advocate for business finalists based on direct experiences that have inspired them. Secondly, the campaign aspires to be an encouragement to all business nominees, each of who receive promotion, movie perks and an invitation to an annual "Art of Celebrated Service" workshop, Finally, Celebration! Cinema hopes that the campaign can be one factor contributing to people's expectation that this is a region of the country marked by world-class hospitality.
The finalists for the Benton Harbor/St. Joseph marketplace are listed below, and the public voting is now open. You can learn the key word for your text vote online by clicking the link below, and you can hear the stories of each nominee to help determine the award recipient.
If you already know the stories and simply want to vote right away for your favorite provider of quality customer service, here are the nominees (alphabetically)
- All Star Family Chiropractic — Text Keyword STAR to 22333
- Biggby Coffee of St. Joe — Text Keyword BIGGBY to 22333
- Buffalo Wild Wings — Text Keyword WINGS to 22333
- Cafe Mosaic — Text Keyword MOSAIC to 22333
- Chatterbox Bar & Grill — Text Keyword CHATTERBOX to 22333
- Hilton Garden Inn — Text Keyword HILTON to 22333
- Jimmy Johns of BH — Text Keyword FREAKY to 22333
- Mason Jar Cafe — Text Keyword MASON to 22333
- Silver Harbor Brewing Co. — Text Keyword BREWING to 22333
- Zoup! of St. Joseph — Text Keyword SOUP to 22333
The Celebrated Service Award is supported by sponsors Beene Garter LLP, Fifth Third Bank, MLive Media Group and Zingerman's Community of Businesses. John Zimmerman of Fifth Third says his company supports the award "Because it focuses on people who are taking care of their customers."
Jamie Dionne of MLive says, "You could have the smallest exchange with somebody at a coffee shop and it literally could make your day. Those moments can be few and far between, but you always remember them."
Business winners of the Celebrated Service Award in each Michigan region earn a full year of recognition on the Celebration! Cinema movie screens, in lobbies, on the website, through Facebook and on radio. The award also includes a $5,000 cash prize, specialized ZingTrain training in Ann Arbor, and movie watch parties for the employees of the business recipient.
Past award recipients have appreciated all of the encouragement that they have received from their customers and reported that the recognition has contributed to the health of their businesses. By way of example, 2015 Award winners Bob Evans of Benton Harbor's Bryan Long says, "When someone walks into Bob Evans and they are known by name they smile. We want to treat strangers like friends, and friends like family."
One business will win a Celebrated Service Award in each of the six markets where Celebration! Cinema theatres operate. The value of the award packages for the six regional recipients totals more than $360,000.
As Tom Rosenbach from sponsor Beene Garter points out, "Celebrated Service helps create the culture of West Michigan. I think that people want to come here because they know this culture exists, and they are attracted to it."
