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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 28, 2016)
Susan Truax, Kelli Truax-Taylor, owner, Treva Haskell and Toni Bennett of Bruce’s Candy Kitchen. Kevin and Lisa Malcom are the owners of Frite and Scoop. Kathy Kleczek, owner of La Luna Loca in Cannon Beach and Astoria, with Kevin Leahy, CEDR executive director 2016 Entrepreneurship: Small Business Award La Luna Loca Kathy Kleczek, owner This award goes to the owner of an eclectic boutique. Since hanging her “shingle” in 1998, the owner has been singularly committed to sharing her lifelong love of other cultures with residents and visitors of the North Coast, while devoting equal attention to the needs of the community right outside her front door. The stores are filled with colorful products from all over the world, including Bali, Thailand, Nepal, Mexico and the United States! The owner has nurtured close personal relationships with the artisans and craftspeople whose products she sells. The first boutique opened in Cannon Beach, and a second location was opened in Astoria in 2013. This is truly entrepre- neurship at its best! 16 • Who’s Who 2016: The North Coast’s Business Guide 2016 Customer Service: Small Business Award 2016 Business Service to the Community : Small Business Award Frite & Scoop Bruce’s Candy Kitchen Kevin and Lisa Malcolm, owners Kelli Truax-Taylor, owner It is my deepest honor to nominate this Astoria business for a CEDR Business Award. The winners strive to provide the utmost in customer service. The business was recently nominated and awarded the Best Customer Service Award by the Coast Weekend, and rightfully so. They are constantly setting the standard for customer service through their own modeling, but also through gentle conversations or reminders to the employees if and when needed. The company is there to serve the customers to the best of their ability. They use social media heavily to keep customers informed of menu offerings, schedules, and changes to the usual business activity. They take their online review very seriously. If you check their online reviews, you would see that they feature comments on the high quality of customer service. The best part about this business is that the owners are truly humble and do not take the credit or success for themselves. Upon receiving the customer service award from the Coast Weekend, the owners promptly planned a celebration in which they treated their employees to dinner as a way to say thank you and recognize that the owners alone do not make a business. They were adamant that their employees are the face of the business and were the ones that earned the award. It was my pleasure to strongly recommend this business, headquartered in Cannon Beach, be given an award for their charitable contributions in the South Clatsop County area. This business opened their doors more than 50 years ago, and the business has remained in the family since that point. The business owners and employees are prominent in the community and enhance the quality of life in South Clatsop County through their involvement with various civic groups including: Seaside Kids Incorporated, Seaside School District, and through our organization, the Sunset Empire Park & Recreation District. During that time they have provided both monetary sponsorship, as well as generous donations in order to enhance or even provide special events and other activities. Specifically, they have provided enough of their famous saltwater taffy to fill 6,000 eggs at our Spring Egg Hunt, candy bags, and prizes for our Halloween Thriller event and family carnival, support for our Children’s Holiday Celebration and, the latest example, a generous financial donation that provided a top-notch photographer at our Daddy-Daughter Dance. Their partnership is truly invaluable and sets an example for many other businesses to be mindful of these opportunities and to give back.
