Kitchener, ON – On Wednesday, October 27,2026, the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce hosted the 2026 Small Business Awards, presented by BDC. More than 60 small businesses were nominated across 8 award categories, which culminated in an exceptional celebration during BDC Small Business Week.
Mike Farwell hosted the evening’s celebrations with nearly 200 guests, including business owners, dignitaries, and community leaders. The event was hosted at 2 local venues, with the Reception at THEMUSEUM, followed by the Formal Awards Show at Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts.
Small Businesses were not only recognized across the award categories but were also featured as Event Partners. Small businesses like The Dessert Artist, The Lord of the Tacos, Fo’Cheezy Food Trucks, Meal In A Jar, Caudle’s Catch Seafood provided food to guests throughout the evening. The Awards themselves were also handmade by a local artist, at Blown Away Glass Studio.
The evening’s final award presentation, for the “Exceptional Small Business of the Year Award”, was presented to Food4Kids Waterloo Region. This award is unique, as it’s open to public voting – showcasing the incredible impact that the business has in the community, and the respect they have from their customers and peers.
The event was presented by BDC during BDC Small Business Week – a celebration of entrepreneurship that BDC has organized for 45 years.
| Service Excellence Award | FoodZen |
| Family Business of the year Award | Shuh Orchards |
| Event Impact Award | Hospice Waterloo Region |
| Skilled Trades Award | Cross Heating & Air Conditioning Ltd. |
| Employer of the Year Award | Centre For Mutual Wellbeing For Racialized Communities |
| Professional of the Year Award | Shriaa Sheth (Accelerator Centre) |
| Entrepreneur of the Year Award | Ravenwood Tabletop |
| Exceptional Small Business of the Year Award | Food4Kids Waterloo Region |
Service Excellence Award
Winner: FoodZen
FoodZen is an Indigenous-owned personal chef and meal service based in Cambridge, Ontario, serving the broader Waterloo Region. The company specializes in weekly pre-made meal deliveries, in-home personal chef services, and interactive culinary workshops that emphasize fresh, locally sourced, and seasonal ingredients. With a commitment to Indigenous food sovereignty and holistic nutrition, FoodZen provides healthy, minimally processed meals tailored to various dietary preferences, while also offering artisanal spice blends and cook-along kits through its retail line, Rooted Path.
Family Business of the Year Award
Winner: Shuh Orchards
Shuh Orchards is a fourth-generation family farm located just north of Waterloo Region in West Montrose. Spanning 50 acres with tens of thousands of modern trellis-system apple trees, the farm specializes in growing popular varieties like Honeycrisp, Gala, and Ambrosia. Operating a vibrant seasonal agritourism destination open through the late summer and fall harvest, Shuh Orchards offers pick-your-own apples, tractor-drawn wagon rides, a corn maze, an interactive petting zoo featuring farm animals, and roadside fruit sales.
Event Impact Award
Winner: Hospice Waterloo Region
Hospice Waterloo Region is a community-based, charitable organization located at 100 Solstice Way in Waterloo that provides compassionate comfort, care, and support to individuals and families impacted by life-threatening illnesses or grief. Offering comprehensive in-home and facility-based programs alongside the residential Cook Family Residence, the organization delivers professional palliative support and bereavement counseling entirely free of charge to patients and their loved ones.
Skilled Trades Award
Winner: Cross Heating & Air Conditioning Ltd.
Cross Heating & Air Conditioning Ltd. is a local HVAC contractor providing residential and commercial heating, cooling, and indoor air quality services across the Waterloo Region and surrounding communities. Operating locally from Waterloo and Kitchener, the company specializes in the installation, repair, and maintenance of furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, and water heaters, while also offering custom ductwork, maintenance plans, and emergency repair options.
Employer of the Year Award
Winner: Centre For Mutual Wellbeing For Racialized Communities
The Centre for Mutual Wellbeing (formerly known as the Coalition of Muslim Women of Kitchener-Waterloo) is a non-profit organization based in Kitchener that provides culturally responsive support, advocacy, and programming for racialized communities across the Waterloo Region. The organization focuses heavily on empowering racialized women and youth, offering specialized services that address gender-based violence, anti-Islamophobia, and racism, alongside operating transitional housing programs like Dar-al-Aman and community bridge-building initiatives.
Professional of the Year Award
Winner: Shriaa Sheth (Accelerator Centre)
Shriaa Sheth is the Events Manager at the Accelerator Centre, where she helps entrepreneurs across the Waterloo Region build and grow technology companies by transforming events into a structured, measurable function that connects founders with mentors, investors, partners, and peers. In less than two years, she expanded event delivery past target goals, increased founder attendance to over 51% through data-driven programming, and streamlined operations using monday.com templates and automations. Beyond her core role, she led the growth of Battle of the Bands – Tech Edition to raise funds for the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington and established a regional peer group uniting event professionals across Communitech, Velocity, MIX, Catalyst Commons, SPUR Innovation, and the AC. With a lifelong passion for event planning that began at age 16 and a background running her own South Asian cultural events business and earning her MBA, she was promoted this fall to Events Manager in recognition of her impact on the regional startup ecosystem.
Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Winner: Ravenwood Tabletop
Ravenwood Tabletop is a premier tabletop social club and immersive gaming space located at 28 Weber Street West in Downtown Kitchener. The venue specializes in tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons, offering private, highly customizable gaming rooms equipped with adjustable lighting and sound. Alongside self-led and hosted campaign adventures, they provide learn-to-play sessions, youth programs and camps, artisan miniature-painting workshops, and a specialized pro shop for gaming supplies.
Exceptional Small Business of the Year Award
Winner: Food4Kids Waterloo Region
Food4Kids Waterloo Region is dedicated to setting the standard for exceptional service in addressing childhood hunger in Waterloo Region. Founded in 2016, the organization has grown from delivering just 17 food packages to now supporting over 1,300 children each week, providing three meals a day and snacks during weekends and school breaks.
Food4Kids Waterloo Region is driven by a small but mighty team of just five staff members, supported by a dedicated network of volunteers. Their work is hands-on and multi-faceted: fundraising, organizing events, coordinating with schools and social workers, advocating for children in need, and delivering food directly to homes and backpacks.
Through their tireless efforts, Food4Kids Waterloo Region exemplifies service excellence, operational efficiency, and an unwavering commitment to one of the most vulnerable members of our community.
The winner of this category was determined solely on public voting, acknowledging the devotion that they have to their customers, and the appreciation their customers have for them.
