Fort St. John, B.C.
Audie Louie Banania’s Audielious restaurant wins presigious award
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
A restaurant owned by a Filipino-Canadian chef won the Business of the Year award in this year’s Fort St. John Chamber of Commerce Annual Business Awards.
Audielicious, a seafood restaurant located at 9720 100 St., Fort St. John in British Columbia, is owned by Audie Louie Banania, who also won the chamber’s “Service Excellence” award for two years in a row.
As part of Small Business Week, Fort St. John and District Chamber of Commerce held its annual business awards luncheon last October 18, 2022.
“Small and medium entrepreneurs are the foundation of our communities,” chamber executive director Cheryl Montgomery said during the opening of the event.
“These businesses employ our citizens, provide sponsorship for local sports, culture, health and even business advocate organizations. Without SMEs, not only would our community suffer, but the culture and lifestyle we all enjoy would be greatly diminished,” Montgomery further said according to a report by alaskahighwaynews.ca.
Banania, who immigrated to Canada from the Philippines nine years ago, thanked his staff and the members who voted for them for the two awards.
“Thank you for the people who nominated and voted for us. We appreciate you all. Thank you very much. Thank you to all our hardworking (Audielicious family). Our team effort paid off,” he said in a message posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
Banania also thanked the restaurant’s patrons and supporters.
“Thank you you everyone for all the support and love. As l always say, we wouldn’t make it this far without you all. Thank you very much. To God be the Glory,” he added.
The 10 categories included recognition of retail, industry, and the non-profit sectors of the community.
Below are the list of this year’s winners:
- Non-profit: Fort St. John Senior Citizens Association
- Diversity & Inclusion: Employment Connections Northern Corp.
- Indigenous Business: North East Native Advancing Society (NENAS)
- Woman of Distinction: Anne McMenamin (Work B.C.)
- Young Entrepreneur: Jordan Cramer (MJ Crepes)
- Community Leader: Fort St. John Co-op (Brad Lussier)
- Service Excellence (restaurant): Audielicious (Audie Louie Banania)
- Service Excellence (retail): Lattitude 56 (Julie Roach-Burns)
- Service Excellence (industrial): Northwest Hearing Services
- Business of the Year: Audielicious (Audie Louie Banania)
Banania, who opened the restaurant in 2019, became one of five finalists for Best Immigrant Entrepreneur in the Small Business BC Awards in 2021.
The nomination came because it noted that the restaurant employed 11 people, held regular donation drives for local non-profits, and even started a small food bank when the pandemic began, Small Business BC said.