Your Business...Your Community

I attended BBQ on the Bypass on Sunday September 19,2010. It is a huge community event sponsored by a local business: Well Seasoned, a Gourmet Food Store. The event takes place in Langley, in the parking lot of a group of businesses that include Well Seasoned. The owner, Angie Quaale, plans the event a full year in advance. For anyone who is running a business to take on a huge project like this, has to be like working at another full time job! There is no doubt that WellSeasoned benefits from the media coverage that a large community event like this brings...but if Angie had to count the extra hours worked over the year on the event, divided by the estimated increased revenues...I don't know how well the numbers would come out.
The question then would be: Why Do It? What does your business OWE your Community? Most people would say, nothing. I disagree. It is completely worth the time and the effort, and the headaches, to let people know that you are a good neighbour. Do all of Well Seasoned's customers live in Langley? I doubt it. Do all of the Well Seasoned customers know about the BBQ, and tell their friends and neighbours about it? I would think so. Even if you live in Abbotsford, or White Rock, or in Victoria...you know that when you shop at Well Seasoned, you are shopping at a store that doesn't just pay rent in a community, and sells gourmet food. Well Seasoned contributes to the Community of Langley, by hosting this event. Does that fact make you shop there? That's up to you.

I believe that everyone has a responsibility to participate in the life of the Community they live in. For some people, that might mean shopping at the local Farmers Market, or buying Girl Guide Cookies from a kid at the mall. For others, it means going to events sponsored by local businesses that showcase something different and unique in their Communities. BBQ on the Bypass is a one of a kind event, sponsored by a store that celebrates the tastes and smells of that style of food.

What is your business's passion? How do you let the Community you live and work in, know? What benefits could be gained from finding out? As we head into the busy Holiday Season do you know who you are and what you stand for? I guarantee that finding out, and being able to tell people in a sentence or two, will cause you to stand out in a crowd. Even if that crowd is full of happy people munching on sandwiches with a trickle of BBQ sauce running down their chin...