Homestead Creamery named Roanoke’s Small Business of the Year

Homestead Creamery has been named the 2014 Small Business of the Year by The Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center.

The creamery, headquartered in Wirtz, was recognized this week at the chamber’s Small Business Awards Dinner at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center.

Homestead, founded in 2001, offers a line of bottled milk, ice cream, yogurt, butter, dips and cheeses.

“The Small Business Awards selection committee was impressed Homestead Creamery’s story of preserving two family farms for future generations while using modern technology to process their products, and still deliver their products door-to-door for their loyal customer,” Joyce Waugh, president of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.

The committee evaluated nominees based on sales, employee growth, staying power, innovativeness and contributions to the community. To be eligible for the small business of the year award companies must meet SBA small business standards and be at least three years old.

Past small business of the year winners include Roanoke Natural Foods Coop (2013), EHS Support Services (2012), Interactive Achievement (2011), Magnets USA (2010), Home Instead Senior Care (2009), Virginia Prosthetics (2008), and Luna Innovations (2007).

The following companies in the Roanoke region also were recognized at the awards:

Small Business Advocate: Samantha Steidle, The CoLab
Small Business Veteran of the Year: Michael Leigh, OpX Solutions
Construction/Real Estate: Clark Brothers Welding
Micro-Business (five employees or less): OpX Solutions
Technology: TORC Robotics
Business-to-Business Services: Protos Security
Business-to-Consumer Services: Generation Solutions
Wholesale/Retail: Homestead Creamery
Legacy Award (in business for 50 years or more): SFCS Inc.
Best New Small Business (in business for one to three years): Doctors Express Roanoke
Not-for-Profit Arts & Culture: The Science Museum of Western Virginia
Not-for-Profit Health & Human Services: United Way of Roanoke