It’s time to promote YOUR business in the new Greater Seattle Chamber Membership Directory!

As part of our efforts to help members of the Greater Seattle Chamber attract and retain more business, we are launching a new multimedia Membership Directory.

A self-updating CD, the Membership Directory is:

• Going Green—minimizing paper waste while maximizing your marketing impact
• Longer-lasting with automatic updates of the latest member information—including text, graphics, PDFs, video and more
• Social media-enabled and searchable
• Twice the value for half the price and hassle!

Now, your ad can be modified according to your needs. Plus, any new information is visible to all users—even CDs already in the hands of consumers!

Membership Directories are distributed via the Chamber’s extensive network. That includes our nearly 2,400 members and their employees, the thousands of local business people who attend the Chamber’s 350-plus events per year, and hundreds of local and non-local business people who turn to the Chamber for information about doing business in the Puget Sound region.

Learn more: Visit seattlechamberdirectory.com for packages, ad rates and to buy online!

The Membership Directory will help increase your visibility, target new customers and drive traffic to your business. Take advantage of this opportunity today!

Not a member of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce? Contact our membership department at 206.389.7200 to see how Chamber opportunities can help you grow your business or visit our website.

2010 Better Workplace Awards recognize innovation, commitment to employees

The Association of Washington Business recognized 18 businesses and non-profit organizations Wednesday for their outstanding commitment to their employees.

The awards, presented during AWB’s annual Legislative Day in Olympia, were given to employers of all sizes and industries throughout the state for their superior commitment to workplace safety, job training and advancement, and innovative benefit and compensation programs.

“The winners of this year’s awards represent the best of Washington’s business community,” said AWB President Don Brunell. “These are perfect of examples of the kind of innovation and forward-thinking that’s needed to attract the best workers to our state. Building a strong, talented workforce is one of the most important things we can do to help Washington emerge strong from the recent downturn.”

“Congratulations to all this year’s Better Workplace recipients. Your efforts are the kind of efforts we should implement across state government,” said Attorney General Rob McKenna, who served as today’s keynote luncheon speaker. “Improvements in worker safety not only protect your workforce but they save money in the long-run,” he said.

“The training and advancement programs recognized today demonstrate that investments in staff pay great dividends. And the innovative benefit and compensation programs honored today reflect the tremendous flexibility and commitment Washington’s businesses provide to their teams.”

The Better Workplace Awards program is open to all AWB members. An independent panel of judges reviews all the nominees and evaluates the programs based on a variety of criteria, including their impact on employee morale, increases in worker productivity, improvements in recruitment and retention and reductions in the cost of worker training. AWB also gives Continuous Commitment awards to companies that have previously won the Better Workplace Award and have continued to be innovators in their efforts to improve the employee work environment.

This year’s Better Workplace Awards were presented to:

• Acme Concrete Paving, Inc. (Spokane)
• American Distributing (Marysville)
• Andelcare (Bellevue)
• Birds Eye Foods (Tacoma)
• Cairncross & Hempelmann, P.S. (Seattle)
• Check Masters (Lynnwood)
• Columbia Vista Corp. (Vancouver)
• Concur Technologies (Redmond)
• Enterprise Rent-A-Car (Renton)
• Haskins Steel Co., Inc. (Spokane)
• Humanix Staffing & Recruiting (Spokane Valley)
• Marine View Beverage, Inc. (Sumner)
• Medical Imaging Northwest (Lakewood)
• Pacific Power (Yakima, Sunnyside and Walla Walla)
• Skils’kin (Spokane)
• St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute (Spokane)
• Sterling Savings Bank (Spokane)
• Tenaska Ferndale Cogeneration Station (Ferndale)

Photos of the 2010 awards presentation in Olympia are available at AWB’s Flickr Web site. To read more about each award winner, click here.

About the Association of Washington Business

Formed in 1904, the Association of Washington Business is Washington’s oldest and largest statewide business association, and includes more than 6,800 members representing 650,000 employees. AWB serves as both the state’s chamber of commerce and the manufacturing and technology association. While its membership includes major employers like Boeing, Microsoft and Weyerhaeuser, 90 percent of AWB members employ fewer than 100 people. More than half of AWB’s members employ fewer than 10. For more about AWB, visit www.awb.org.

The Alaska Symphony of Seafood held the first stages of the New Products Contest in Seattle on February 3, 2010.

In the evening at the Palace Ballroom, a full crowd of seafood industry suppliers, processors, shippers, manufacturers, and the media voted for their favorite of the fourteen Alaska seafood products entered in the contest.

Coming out on top as the Seattle People’s Choice was Wild Alaskan Smoked Salmon Chowder, by Ivar’s Seafood, Soup and Sauce Company.

Read more at http://www.symphonyofseafood.com/

Come see why Toast of Seattle is one of our most popular networking events!

Date: Friday, Feb. 19

Time: 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Cost: $15 pre-paid

Location: Talaris Conference Center, 4000 NE 41st St., Seattle 98105

Register online at www.seattlechamber.com/events

About the Toast of Seattle
The Toast of Seattle is one of the Chamber’s most successful networking programs. With three structured networking rounds over breakfast at some of the region’s best venues – you’re guaranteed to expand your network!

The February Toast of Seattle will be hosted by Talaris Conference Center–a retreat, event and meeting destination that combines a distinctively Northwest environment with metropolitan technology and amenities. Talaris Conference Center is located on 18-acres in a natural, park-like setting near the University of Washington.

A Celebration in Honor of The Raynier Institute & Foundation

When: Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010, 2 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Where: YouthCare’s Orion Center
1828 Yale Avenue (at Denny and Stewart)Seattle, WA 98101

RSVP: Katie Riese at Richmond Public Relations, 206.682.6979

The event will include the announcement of a $7.75 million package of grants from The Raynier Institute & Foundation that will safeguard and broaden efforts to prevent homeless young people in Seattle from becoming chronically homeless adults. The programs to be funded are run by YouthCare, serving homeless and at-risk youth ages 12–24, and ROOTS, which provides emergency shelter for homeless young adults ages 18–25.

A cake reception celebrating the renaming of YouthCare’s Orion Center will follow. There will also be opportunities to tour the Orion Center and speak with Orion Center staff and representatives from The Raynier Foundation, ROOTS and YouthCare.

From the Kent Reporter by Brian Beckley

The Kent School District, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Urban Enterprise Institute are putting their B.E.S.T. foot forward this winter with an event designed to help business better engage with the community to build the workforce of the next generation.

Called Business and Education Striving to the Top, the event’s goal is focus on how better to engage parents in minority communities and to reinforce the importance of creating an environment in which education is important.
Read full article at pnwlocalnews.com

One of the biggest and most delicious networking events of the year returns Feb. 3!

Sample delicacies from some of Seattle’s finest restaurants and sip on the aquarium’s signature “Leonard-tini” while building your network with hundreds of Chamber members.

The 2010 Restaurant After Hours will exhibit featured restaurants in the Ackerley Foundation Puget Sound Great Hall, the Aquarium Cafe and the Life on the Edge exhibit. Get your fill of the best food in the city and make new business connections at one of Seattle’s greatest landmarks.

This event is expected to sell out. Register now!

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Sustaining a world-class economy through innovation and industry development is a collaborative effort. As part of this effort, Washington’s Innovation Summit 2010 will bring together the region’s leading companies and thought leaders for a full day devoted to accelerating creativity and innovation around aerospace, defense and energy.

EVENT INFORMATION
DATE: April 9, 2010
TIME: 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
LOCATION: Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center
COST: $150-230. Luncheon only, $50
REGISTER: 206-685-1920; watechcenter.org/summit

Champagne and caviar, lox and bagels, ham and eggs, wine and cheese, oysters and stout, salsa and chips, coffee and donuts…some things just go together. But why, one may wonder. Pike Brewing Co. pushes the envelope to answer that age old question, “What beverages go best with everyone’s favorite food: chocolate? For the second year in a row, Pike pairs the best beers, wines, spirits, and mead with an assortment of chocolate that would make Willie Wonka jealous.

EVENT INFORMATION:
Thursday, February 11, 2010
6:00 to 9:00 pm
The Pike Pub’s Microbrewery Museum Room
$25.00 per person
R.S.V.P. to Michael St. Clair: mstclair@pikebrewing.com or 206.812.6613

Pike’s Chocofest, billed as “foreplay before the big day” is a romantic and educational way to discover the wide variety of chocolate treats from here and around the world. Stations set up throughout the Micro Brewery Museum and Naughty Nelly Room feature different chocolate treats, each presented by an expert (usually the chocolate makers themselves). Adjacent to each chocolate table is a drink table staffed with experts to sample and explain their beverages.

This year more than two dozen different chocolates will be sampled along with more than 20 different beers, wines, mead and spirits. Please join us for this fun and eductional event!

• Badger Mountain Vineyards and Powers Winery – Seri Sedlacek will pour Badger Mountain Port and Powers Malbec
• Carter’s Chocolates - Matt Carter of Port Orchard, WA will present his boutique truffles made with 3 different Pike beers.
• Chocolate Box – This neighborhood retailer, located just steps from the Pike Place Market, specializes in Northwest chocolatiers and will showcase Lesley’s French-style artisan chocolates by sampling her “seafoam”, and salted caramels.
• Chukar Cherries – Jamen Tyler will bring a dynamite Chukar Cherries – Pike Brewery tasting combo.
• Classical Wines – Ole Thompson and Mrshall Jorgensen will pour: Bodegas Toro Montilla-Moralles Albalá, Montilla-Moriles (Amontillado Viejisimo – Dry 30 yr. old), Don PX 2004/2005 (unoaked, very rich) and Don PX Gran Reserva 1982 (Great Vintage!) From Bodegas Gutiérrez de la Vega, Alicante: Casta Diva Cosecha Miel 2007 (Sweet Muscat) and Casta Diva Recóndita Armonía 2005 (Sweet Monastrell)
• Clear Creek Distillery – Lynn Bauer will represent this producer of Eaux de vie, Grappas, and Pot-Distilled Wine Brandy made with the finest fruit from Oregon orchards using traditional European brandy-making techniques; and McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey made in the Islay tradition of Scotch whisky.
• Click Wholesale – Local distributor of fine beer, including Pike, and wines; will present Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence from Cooperstown, NY and Fiklin Chocolate Port.
• Claudio Corallo – A “single origin” chocolate company with a compelling story of “plantation to bar” chocolate from São Tomé e Príncipe, the smallest and least well known country in Africa. The North American importer is located here in Seattle.
• Confectional – boutique bakery in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market, offering exquisite, sinfully dense, baked cheesecakes and cheesecake truffles
• Fran’s Chocolates – President Obama’s favorite salted chocolate caramels presented by Fran Bigelow
• Gelatiamo Gelateria – Maria Coassin and Skyler Locatelli are brainstorming to outdo themselves with another blockbuster Pike and Gelatiamo creation; a tough act to follow on the heels of last years Pike XXXXX Gelato, now permanently on the dessert menu at Pike.
• Leonidas Chocolate – from Wallingford’s Bottleworks creamy chocolates from Brussels
• Merchant du Vin Corporation – Jhon Gilroy of MdV will present Browerij Lindemans of Belgium and Samuel Smith Organic Fruit Beers
• Mount Baker Vineyards – Randy Finley, owner, will pour his favorite wine pairing with chocolate.
• Noble Wines – Naomi Smith will pour Scharffenberger Brut and Helix Cabernet
• Oh! Chocolate – Stout Truffles made with Pike XXXXX Stout
• Pacific Distillery LLC - Marc Bernhard will present his local, Woodinville made Absinthe
• Pike Brewing Company – Pike’s menu features local, sustainable foods paired with Pike beers. Desserts include a Chocolate and Ale Pairing with Carter’s Pike infused Kilt Lifter, Tandem, and Stout truffles; and Gelatiamo XXXXX Stout Gelato Floats. A surprise beer or two will be paired with chocolates for Chocofest.
• Ritrovo Italian Regional Foods – U.S importer of extraordinary Italian Bru-Co Chocolates.
• Sky River Brewing – Denise Ingalls presents Sky River Mead from Sultan, WA
• Taste Restaurant – Pastry Chef Lucy Damkoehler’s amazing Pike beer infused cupcakes
• Theo Chocolates – In Fremont, America’s first genuine Bean-to-bar Organic chocolate factory making chocolates that compete with the finest of Italy, Belgium and France.
• Trevani Truffles – Anne Boyington’s will bring her creative, locally produced Truffles that she sells only at farmer’s markets using many items from local farmers.

Though not as old as beer, wine or mead, cocoa trees, from which chocolate is created, were used in the Amazon more than 4,000 years ago to make a drink which was seasoned with herbs from the forests and countryside. Early people attributed fertility to the pods, which are said to resemble human genitalia. By 600 AD, the Mayans began to cultivate the earliest known cocoa plantations. They had faith that chocolate was the God’s favorite food. The Aztecs agreed, adding that it was the ultimate aphrodisiac. Love itself may be free, but chocolate has always been a luxury and has even been used as currency. So much for free love, the pleasures of a luxurious Central American brothel were recorded to have been purchased by Hernando de Oviedo y Valdes, a member of a Spanish expedition in 1513 for 10 cocoa beans! Legend tells us that Emperor Montezuma drank upwards of 50 goblets of thick red chocolate daily, throwing the solid gold goblets away after each use. Though today such conspicuous consumption is politically incorrect, Valentine chocolates are still wrapped in red paper, often presented tied in golden ribbon. Cortez, who was the first Westerner to cultivate cocoa, sent a gift of American cocoa beans, back home to Charles the First. In order to make the bitter sweet, he added sugar and vanilla, nutmeg and other spices, all exotic imports at the time. Charles fell in love. So did the Pope, who approved its consumption on Fridays. The chocolate craze was revolutionary, soon spreading to France, Italy, and Switzerland. 13 years before the Declaration of Independence was penned, New England business people signed on to build this country’s first Chocolate factory. The 19th century saw solid growth and by 1830, the English introduced the first chocolate designed to be eaten as a confection. The Swiss, Belgians. Italians and Dutch all have legitimate claim to chocolate’s hall of fame, but as quick as you can say “cocoa nibs”, in the 21st Century, Seattle, dripping in truffles, caramels, gelato, pralines, and cocoa has become “chocolate central” rivaling Europe’s chocolate capitals.