At the South-West business awards gala on the weekend two Collie-based businesses took home trophies.
The Colliefields Café and Physio Group South-West both took home awards on the night.
Physio Group South West won the category of Best Business with five to ten employees award, and The Colliefields Café won the 2015 Tourism Award and owner Michélè Gannaway took home the runner up award for the Business Person of the Year category.
Mrs Gannaway said she was surprised and honoured to take home both awards.
“I didn’t think we had a hope in hell, I was in shock when I heard we had won and I still am in shock.”
“I was blubbering all the way to the stage,” she said.
Mrs Gannaway and her husband Gary said the awards are recognition of their hard work.
“It shows we are on the right track, we took a huge gamble and it’s starting to pay off.
“I think we are doing the right thing for the building and for Collie,” she said.
The 2015 Tourism Award recognised the businesses ability to cater for tourists and day trippers alike, and Mrs Gannaway said this was the concept they had in mind when they created their business plan.
“We wanted to create something for the passers through as well as for the people of Collie to enjoy; it’s very gratifying when you are recognised for it.”
“It was great to see there were two businesses from Collie that were awarded.”
“Collie just keeps on getting better and better and its time that people realised how wonderful Collie is, there’s so much here,” Mrs Gannaway said.
Physio Group South-West owner Jasmine Hulls said she was glad her team were recognised for their ongoing commitment and hard work.
“I am really proud of the team and what we have achieved, the fact we are being recognised for providing a quality physio service.”
“It’s about recognising the awesome people in the team and how dedicated they are to the community,” she said.
The group came runner up last year in the same award category, and Ms Hulls took home the small business achiever award.
Ms Hulls said part of the reason they nominated to go in the awards was that it forced the business to self-evaluate every aspect of the operations, and encouraged them to look at areas that may need improving.
“When we were filling out the nomination forms it was a great way to evaluate how things are going in the business and things we may need to look at changing or focusing on.”
Both businesses congratulated each other on their wins and said it was great to see Collie getting their name out there in the business world.
“The town is definitely moving forward and there are some great things coming out of Collie,” Ms Hulls said.