The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce spent the day April 5 wheeling around Kansas City to deliver some good news to its 2019 Top 10 Small Business winners.
After keeping the list of awardees under wraps, the KC Chamber showed up at the winning companies’ offices to break the news with confetti, champagne and balloons.
The Top 10 Small Businesses were selected from a pool of 80 nominees.
As part of the Small Business Celebration, finalists will participate in a panel discussion May 2 at the Think Tank Breakfast. Each company is in the running for some of the Chamber’s top awards, which will be announced May 23 at the Small Business Awards Luncheon: Small Business of the Year, known as the Mr. K Award; Diverse Small Business Award; Legacy of KC Award; Entrepreneur Award; and International Small Business Award.
Last year’s winner for the highly competitive Small Business of the Year award was Lead Bank. Among the 2019 Top 10, two are past winners of Thinking Bigger’s 25 Under 25 Small Business Awards: KC Bier Co. and Lever1, both in the Class of 2017.
Here are this year’s Top 10 winners:
AgForce Transport Services
AgForce Transport Services is a full-service, freight transportation and logistics company in Leawood.
Charlie Hustle Clothing Co.
Charlie Hustle is a T-shirt company that wants to preserve an old-school feel through its KC-branded apparel.
IBC Inc.
International Builders & Consultants is a woman-owned construction subcontractor that offers interior finishing and traffic solutions.
→ READ: Changing course leads to opportunity for Brandy McCombs of IBC
KC Bier Co.
KC Bier Co. is a popular local brewery in Kansas City’s Waldo neighborhood. It brews and bottles German-style beer, including Dunkel, Helles, Hefeweizen and other seasonal beers.
→ READ: KC Bier Co. succeeds with local focus
Lever1
Lever1 (pictured above) is a Kansas City-based professional employer organization known for providing convenient and quality HR, payroll and benefit solutions.
→ READ: Lever1: ‘They grow, we grow’
Odimo
Odimo is a professional architectural practice established to bring a fresh approach to the design and construction industry.
RFP360
Founded in 2012, RFP360 offers a request-for-proposal management solution that improves the RFP process for issuers and responders, empowering organizations across the globe to form successful vendor-client partnerships. It currently has 23,000 users.
Ripple Glass
Ripple Glass is a glass recycling solution for the Kansas City area. Its processing facility and local partner companies offer less waste, more energy-efficient solutions and greener communities.
→ READ: Ripple Glass: Passion for recycling spurs expansion
TREKK Design Group
Founded in 2002, TREKK Design Group offers a full range of water/wastewater design, traffic engineering, transportation design, surveying, engineering field support and more.
→ READ: SBA’s 8(a) program includes resources, connections for TREKK
VeriShip
VeriShip assists in parcel contract negotiations, reducing shipping costs and uncovering savings opportunities with powerful parcel audit technology.
