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The readers have spoken: This region’s best establishments have earned your patronage.
It’s been really fun preparing this month’s issue of Ingram’s. Our August edition has, for many years, been a lifestyle issue and the primary content of this fun annual issue is Ingram’s Best of Business Kansas City Awards. This is the 32nd consecutive year of publishing the Best of Business Kansas City feature section. It all began back in 1986 as the Silver Ladle Awards, what we call the Wining and Dining part of the competition today.
That was more than a decade before Michelle and I bought the magazine, and it was the start of a tradition that we are proud to carry on today. Over the years, we’ve added a couple more divisions and many categories and the Best of Business Kansas City has and should remain a staple with this publication.
But this recognition program has far less to do with our interests than it does with our valued readers. This is purely a readers-choice awards program. And it’s probably to be expected that the publication with the highest reader demographic profile in the nation would also have readers with inordinately discerning opinions and tastes.
So when it comes time to survey this great city and cast votes for their favorite restaurants, galleries, accounting firms and office-furnishings providers, perhaps we have a good thing going by responsibly tallying ballots and publishing the results.
We have avoided automating the voting with an on-line function up until now, for a number of reasons. First, we believe strongly that original ballots mitigate certain folks from stuffing the box. This being Sweeney version 21.0 as administrators of this competition, I can honestly say that we’ve seen it all.
One year, in fact, someone—or some company—went to the effort of not only printing our ballot but also having the left edge perforated, giving it the appearance of having been pulled out of the magazine. Had they used a paper stock closer to what we actually print on, they might have even got away with it. Unfortunately, we do continue to see some attempts at ballot-stuffing, but we pitch the returns from those companies, or scrap categories entirely, if it gets too carried away.
It’s probably to be exptected that the publication with the highest reader demographic profile in the nation would have readers with inordinately discerning opinions and tastes.
Not a week goes by without referencing the most recent edition of Ingram’s Best of Business Kansas City issue or even receiving requests from readers and friends of what restaurants about where they should take their out-of-town guests. I’ve mailed hundreds of copies over the years for these kinds of requests, and we’re pleased to be able to, with authority and confidence, make really strong recommendations.
In your hands you have a road map that includes the greatest virtues, amenities and companies in the greater Kansas City area. We hope you put it to use just as often as we do and explore the best this city has to offer. Other media properties produce similar type of polls and rankings, but what makes Best of Business City KC authentic and reputable are the people who determine the winners: Our valued readers.
I’d like to personally congratulate our Best of Business Kansas City winners. Your organizations and establishments have earned the respect of some of the most discriminating consumers in the nation.
There’s some remarkable greatness even among our winners. JE Dunn Construction, for example, has won the Best Commercial Contractor every single year we’ve had this category. Lon Lane’s Inspired Occasions has claimed the Gold award in the Best Catering category for an remarkable 15 years in a row. The Capital Grille has won an eye-popping 55
Gold Awards in the relatively short time they’ve operated in their home on the Country Club Plaza. The list of success stories goes on.
If you haven’t already made a point of doing so, consider taking a vacation in town more often and get out there and take in all the best this great city has to offer. Not only at the restaurants but also entertainment venues and among the suppliers of products and services as well. We’re confident you’ll find the best of the best right here in this month’s edition of Ingram’s.
Enjoy!
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