Member Article

‘Small Business Big Success’ award winner announced

Birmingham-based independent coffee shop, Boo Boo Coffee, awarded £15,000 prize package.

Boo Boo Coffee has been unveiled as the winner of Intuit QuickBooks’ Small Business Big Success competition last night, at a celebratory event hosted at The Hawthorns, home of West Bromwich Albion. The independent coffee shop was awarded a prize package worth £15,000 to celebrate its success to date and support its growth.

Launched in conjunction with the Birmingham Post and Mail, the competition aimed to uncover small business success stories across the West Midlands. The response was overwhelming; the competition uncovered scores of inspiring achievements from local SMEs across the region.

Boo Boo Coffee was selected due to the team’s undeniable passion for the coffee industry and desire to train up local teenagers and teach them barista skills. The judging panel – made up of Rich Preece, Vice President and Country Manager of Intuit QuickBooks, Adrian Wright, Marketing Director at West Bromwich Albion Football Club and Stacey Barnfield, Editor, Birmingham Post – were impressed with the team’s incredible work ethic, efforts to create a true community hub and savvy business minds – already turning a profit before the business celebrates its first anniversary next month.

Keon Heidarinia and Matt Eagles, Boo Boo Coffee’s owners, collected the award and will now receive a prize package worth over £15,000 – including £5,000, a full page article in the Birmingham Post, advertising at The Hawthorns at the West Bromwich Albion v Queen’s Park Rangers fixture on Saturday, 4th April, hospitality tickets to the match and free QuicksBooks Online subscription for two years.

Keon comments, “We’re totally overwhelmed and delighted to win this fantastic award. It’s moments like this that make the last year’s hard work worthwhile. We took an empty shell of a shop and transformed it into a bustling hub for the area with our bare heads, employing local people and local artists and serving the local community with great coffee. To have that achievement formally recognised by a global brand is a huge accolade for us.”

He continues, “We will be using the prize package to help us to set up a Boo Boo Academy. The academy is designed to teach teenagers how to be top quality baristas and make them experts on ingredients, methods, treatments and techniques – skills they can take with them anywhere in the world. We believe this will truly help us to extend our reach in the local community beyond simply making a profit, which is incredibly important to us.”

Rich Preece, Vice President and Country Manager, Intuit QuickBooks, comments, “We’ve really enjoyed the last few weeks on our hunt to find the West Midlands’ greatest small business success story. Starting, running and growing a small business can be hard work and it was clear from Boo Boo Coffee’s entry that Keon and Matt are passionate individuals who are committed to making their own success, while giving back to the community.

“QuickBooks is focused on helping small businesses’ lives easier with our online accounting software. We believe it’s incredibly important to champion the successes that small businesses up and down the country are achieving every single day. Boo Boo Coffee thoroughly deserved the award and we’re really looking forward to helping Keon and Matt take their business to the next level.”

The ceremony took place at The Hawthorns, home of West Bromwich Albion, for whom QuickBooks is the principle sponsor. The evening was also attended by Tony Pulis, first team coach, along with first team players Chris Brunt and Gareth McAuley.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rich Preece .