The owners of one of Elizabeth Street's newest businesses was taken aback at this year's Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards after being named New Business of the Year.

The British Banger Company had only been open for five months at the time, which is why Tim and Tracey Worsley were so utterly shocked at the win.

Tracey says the acceptance speech was completely improvised.

"Tim had asked me beforehand, 'did I want to prepare a speech in case we won,' and I said 'no, because we won't win. It'd be nice to win, but we won't win, there's too many good businesses up there.'"

Though they were aware of a few nominations, she says it wasn't until after their win that several of their regular customers told them they'd submitted nominations of their own.

Okotoks' relatively large British population have made up a portion of their customer base, though Tracey says they aren't the only ones who have embraced the young business.

"There are big pockets of English everywhere, but it's not just the English we've attracted. It's the Canadians, and the Germans, and the Dutch; we've got lots of different nationalities coming through."

The pair say they were moved by the warm reception in the few short months they've been open, thanking Okotokians for the honour.

"Brilliant. I'm really pleased and proud." She added, "It's our customers that have made it. Without them we wouldn't be here, would we?"

 

Questions, comments, or story ideas? Email news@okotoksonline.com