Trellus Same-Day Local Delivery is a proud recipient of the 2022 HIA-LI Business Achievement Award. The awards, now in their 28th year, celebrate excellence in Long Island business. All nominees were recognized at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, NY, on Sept. 20, 2022.
In a story recapping the event, Chris Boyle of Long Island Business News wrote, “A third HIA-LI Business Achievement Award was also presented to a ‘Rookie of the Year’ honoree representing firms in operation less than five years. The 2022 award was given to Long Beach-based Trellus, an innovative same-day local delivery service serving Long Island and Eastern Queens.”
HIA-LI, Hauppauge Industrial Association Long Island, is an organization representing thousands of business professionals. It’s become the recognized voice for business on Long Island and a powerful force and economic engine for regional development for more than 40 years.
As HIA-LI President and CEO Terri Alessi-Miceli described in a blog post, “Nominees are closely evaluated on a number of criteria: the quality of their employee relations, their regional business engagement, their profitability, and their vision for their future. Award selection also takes into account the nominees’ recent accomplishments, their innovative processes, their market growth, their industry leadership, and their ability to overcome adversity.”
To present the award, HIA-LI called upon last year’s Rookie of the Year Award winner, Jay Ryan of Kilfinane Environmental Consultants, Inc. Ryan reflected on the nomination process, which included the Co-founders’ presentation to a panel of three judges.
Ryan remarked, “During the interview process, judges were impressed by [Trellus’] workplace culture and their passion for helping the Long Island business community. As an organization founded by three local Long Island residents, they’re committed to helping local small businesses by giving them the tools they need to reach more customers and drive revenue, which in turn supports the local economy.”
Trellus’ company overview video (see below) was then played to the room of nearly 300 attendees, and the award was formally presented.
The celebration reminded the Trellus Co-founders of the power of working together, a common theme in their acceptance speech remarks.
Co-founder and CEO Adam Haber said, “Trellus is now a network of 275 businesses…and we’ve done over 35,000 deliveries. The goal of our business is to create an alternative, endless-aisle marketplace so you don’t shop at Amazon or Target or Walmart. You can come and support small businesses and get the products you know and love in just a couple hours to your doorstep. The secret of our success and the competitive edge that we have is that we’re advocating for small businesses when nobody else does.”
Reflecting on Trellus’ growing network of small businesses, Co-founder and COO Brian Berkery added, “If we work together as small businesses…we can actually make an impact. We can keep our downtowns the way they look right now. We want them vibrant, we want the storefronts filled. We’re here to help make that happen by leveling the playing field.”
To wrap up the team’s comments, Trellus Co-founder and CTO JR Jensen remarked, “I like to think that the success of our platform and our technology really comes from two special places. First our team, the ones who are building it and the ones who are working tirelessly for it. And also the small business community on Long Island. They’re the ones who are grinding every day. They’re the ones who got through COVID. They’re the ones who were helping us grow ourselves. And we’re learning from them every day. So it’s really the small business community of Long Island that drives Trellus.”