South Kansas City Chamber Honors Contractor
The South Kansas City Chamber of Commerce has honored Joe Huber and A.L. Huber General Contractor as its Small Business of the Year 2003. Joe Huber has been a chamber member for 20 years. The company, which is headquartered in Overland Park, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. It specializes in medical, financial, religious, educational, industrial and retail construction as well as renovation of historical buildings.

Surfdog Sam’s Opens in Leawood
Surfdog Sam’s…The World’s Original Hot Dog Island has opened for business in Kansas City at 12616 Juniper Circle. A nationally-franchised food concession, the business offers gourmet sausage products served at outdoor tropical islands featuring palm trees, surfboards and beach-style music. Dustin Shull is the general manager of the company’s Kansas City market. Call (913) 451-4499 for more information.

Creative Network becomes CNI
Creative Network Inc., a Kansas City advertising agency that opened its doors in 1995, has changed its name to CNI. The new name stands for “Creating New Ideas,” according to Steve Minshull, founder and co-owner. CNI’s clients are primarily in the biosciences, manufacturing and business-to-business arenas. A specialty is producing high-impact direct marketing presentations for clients. Call (913) 341-6090 or visit www.cniadvertising.com for more information.

Small Business of the Year Announced
Leatherwood Enterprises has been awarded the 2003 Governor’s Small Business of the Year Award for the state of Missouri. The company opened the Leatherwood’s Home for Children in 1997.  The award recognizes a new business that has experienced significant growth, improvement in internal processes and/or has developed a business or marketing plan to improve their business. Leatherwood’s Home for Children was also the recipient of the Kansas City Small Business Monthly’s 2003 25 Under 25 award earlier this year.

Best of Times Photography Opens
Best of Times Photography has opened at 17201 E. US Highway 40 in Independence, Mo. Kelly Blosser, a master photographer with more than 20 years of experience, owns the business. Best of Times is a full service photography studio, specializing in special events, weddings, family, children and senior portraits.

Junk Removal Franchise Opens in KC
Andrew Wilson and his wife, Krista, have opened the Kansas City area’s first 1-800-GOT-JUNK franchise. The company is a full service junk removal company that picks up anything that city trash haulers and organizations such as The Salvation Army won’t accept. About 60 percent of the items removed is recycled or donated to local charities. Call (913) 908-3067 or visit www.1800gotjunk.com for more information.

HR Consult, LLC Announces Partnership
HR Consult LLC, a Lenexa, Kan.-based business processing outsourcing company, has announced a partnership with Occu-Tec, Inc., a full-service safety and environmental consulting firm. Established by Skuli Gudmundsson in 1983, Occu-Tec was created to ease the burdens of regulatory compliance and provide loss control assistance to companies.

HR Consult provides human resource solutions to companies. Call (816) 914-2696 for more information.

Custom Engineering Opens New Location
Custom Engineering has opened a new location at 12760 E. US Highway 40 in  Independence, Mo. The consulting engineering firm specializes in the design of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems for commercial and industrial buildings. The company has been licensed for 37 years. Its projects include the University of Missouri–Columbia basketball arena and National Guard armories throughout the state.
    
Trimac Acquires Infra-Red Technologies
    Trimac Industries, LLC has acquired Infra-Red Technologies, Inc., a custom manufacturer of equipment and complete systems for industrial process heating, cleaning and finishing needs. Both companies are based in North Kansas City, Mo.
Infra-Red Technologies was founded in 1987. Trimac Industries markets products on a worldwide basis. Call (816) 421-4422 for more information.

CCI Public Relations Wins International Award
CCI Public Relations & Marketing Communications recently won the Communicators Award 2003 for the development, design, writing and production of an annual report for Notre Dame de Sion, a private independent Catholic school.. The Communicators Award is an international honor presented for exceeding industry standards in communicating a message in print media.

New Vending Business Opens
Joyce and Curtis Anderson have opened JC Vending in Olathe. The company is an automatic merchandising service providing refreshment centers for businesses and organizations. The new business has been open since April. Call (913) 780-3486 for more information.

Wellness Center Opens Brookside Office
Wise Woman Wellness has opened a Brookside office in the Rockhill Plaza Building at 6301 Rockhill Road. The company offers health education for pregnancy wellness, women’s wellness and adolescent wellness. Specialty classes are also provided in bellycasting, homebirth classes and childbirth education for those who have had a previous pregnancy loss.   

Participants receive a certificate of achievement when they complete a class.

Visit www.wisewomanwellness.org or call (816) 444-7223 for more information.

Home Inspection Company Celebrates Anniversary
Outlook Inspection Service, an Olathe, Kan., business that offers home inspection options for area real estate buyers and sellers, is celebrating its first year in business. The company opened on July 16, 2002.

For more information, visit www.outlookinspections.com.

Imaging Center Opens
Prenatal Imaging Centers LLC has opened in Kansas City, Mo. Color 3D, real time and 2D imaging allows expectant parents watch their unborn child and leave with a preliminary report for the doctor as well as 2D black and white images, color 3D images and a recording of the experience. The center’s physician sends a final report to the managing physician. Mothers-to-be can also request a massage.

Founder Jeanette Burlbaw has 25 years of experience as a perinatal sonographer.

For more information, visit www.prenatalimaging.com.

Historic Meeting House Opens for Dinner
The Governor’s Meeting House, located at 10910 W. 60th St., in Shawnee, Kan., is now open for dinner Thursday through Friday, beginning at 5:30 p.m. each day.

The restaurant is housed in an historic 1850s federal-style home that was once the residence of the first territorial governor of Kansas.

Reservations are requested. For more information, visit www.governorsmeetinghouse.com or call (913) 631-2661.

Handmark Acquires pdaBookstore.com
Handmark Inc., a publisher of retail software for Palm OS and Pocket PC handheld devices, has acquired pdaBookstore.com, an online ebook reseller.

The pdaBookstore.com Web site will operate as an independent business until later in 2003. At that time it will be integrated into MemoWare.com, also owned by Handmark.

For more information, visit www.handmark.com.

CHRW Wins National Awards
At the 2003 ADDY Awards held recently in Los Angeles, Kansas City based CHRW Advertising won two gold and one silver ADDY.

The agency won the two golds in the sales promotion category. The winning point-of-purchase pieces were created for their client Artistic Audio. The silver ADDY was for a piece in the same campaign.

The ADDY Awards are the world’s largest advertising competition and recognize creative excellence in all media of local, regional and national advertising. Of the more than 60,000 entries received, almost 1,700 were judged at the national level. Of these, 126 Gold ADDY Awards were presented and 200 Silver awards. Fewer than 1 percent of entries receive a national award.

Hypnosis Center Opens Downtown Office
Jinsei Center has opened a new office at 1326 Grand. The center promotes physical and emotional well-being through the use of hypnotherapy, herbal therapy and emotional freedom technique (EFT).

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. by appointment only.

For more information, call (816) 221-9449 or visit www.jinseicenter.com.