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Olivette Economic Development Commission widens outreach for 2025 business awards amid low early turnout
Summary
Commission staff reported limited early participation in nominations for the 2025 Business of the Year and Restaurant of the Year awards and commissioners discussed outreach methods, rules for consecutive winners, and whether to notify businesses by email or posters.
Dawn (staff) told the commission on Jan. 27 that nominations for the 2025 Business of the Year and Restaurant of the Year awards are under way but that community participation was low so far.
Dawn said the nomination form allows up to three selections per category (six total, three for restaurants and three for businesses), and that early nomination counts were modest: several categories showed only a few voters or a handful of nominations. “SLAD, honestly, they got 57 votes in 1 day. That's how they took it last year,” Dawn said, describing how business-led promotion can rapidly increase nominations.
Commissioners and staff discussed outreach options including social media, the city newsletter, posters and QR codes placed in retail locations, Chamber of Commerce coordination, and email contact lists tied to business-license records. Several commissioners said they had not seen social-media or email notices and urged more direct business-facing promotion.
The group confirmed one rule already visible on the nomination page: last year’s winners (St. Louis Academy of Dance and Olivette Diner) are ineligible to win again this year; commissioners agreed to keep that rule. Commissioners also discussed whether the nomination counts alone should determine winners or whether commissioners should apply qualitative attributes to break ties; one commissioner moved to accept “the most nominations” as the deciding rule for the current year and the commission left the process largely unchanged for 2025 given that voting had already begun.
Staff intends to collect the nominations through the March deadline (noted as March 24 in materials) and present the compiled results at the commission’s March meeting so commissioners can make final selections before awards in May.
Ending: Staff and commissioners agreed to increase outreach (posters, newsletter blurb, chamber contacts) and to return in March with a complete tabulation and recommended rules for future years.
