Commerce Lexington is Proud to Announce the 2025 Salute to Small Business Award Winners; Week-Long Celebration is August 11 - 15

Since 1986, Commerce Lexington has been honoring and recognizing the significant impact of small businesses on our organization and the regional economy through its annual Salute to Small Business Awards presented by Forcht Bank. Their impact has only intensified since the pandemic, with surges nationally in new business formations (19 million new applications from the end of 2020) and job growth (71% of total job growth since 2019).
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Commerce Lexington is excited to announce the 2025 award winners, including BACK Construction, DV8 Kitchen & Bakery, and the Hope Center. Throughout the week of August 11 – 15, we’ll showcase our top small businesses and one outstanding nonprofit organization through a variety of events, video vignettes, and Facebook Live segments, culminating on Friday, August 15, with the announcement of the new Small Business of the Year at an awards luncheon, beginning at noon at Central Bank Center in downtown Lexington.

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Salute to Small Business Week

Register for the Luncheon

Past Salute to Small Business Winners

Small businesses are an important source of innovation, economic growth, and prosperity, and this year is even more special with our city recognizing Business Month in August as part of the 250Lex celebration. Small businesses are woven into the fabric of every part of our community and region, and our Salute to Small Business awards program is a wonderful opportunity for us to say thank you to the risk takers, entrepreneurs, and dreamers who have turned their vision into something special that stands the test of time.”
- Bob Quick, Commerce Lexington President & CEO

2025 Salute to Small Business Award Winners

BACK Construction
965 Contract Street, 40505
(859) 225-2225
​www.backconstruction.com

​What started as a residential framing and barn-building company in 1981 has grown into one of Lexington’s most respected full-service design-build firms. The company has experienced double-digit growth in eight of the last ten years and was recognized in the Qualified Remodeler's Top 500 at #153 in 2023. BACK Construction’s most defining milestone came in 2021, when it transitioned to 100-percent employee owned. Today, BACK specializes in residential remodeling, roofing, handyman services, windows and doors, and architectural design — all backed by an in-house team of designers, project managers, and certified professionals. Throughout its history, BACK Construction has held fast to what matters most: doing right by its people, developing clients’ trust, and continuing a legacy of transforming houses into homes.

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DV8 Kitchen & Bakery
867 S. Broadway #140, 40504
594 E. Third St. #100, 40508
(859) 832-0388
​www.dv8kitchen.com

Opened in 2017, DV8 Kitchen is a social enterprise giving second chance employment opportunities to people in early stages of recovery. DV8 Kitchen partners with recovery homes to employ residents ready to enter the workforce. DV8 believes that everyone in recovery can find meaningful employment, while also reducing the stigma of addiction. After building sales and profit in the first restaurant and weathering the COVID pandemic, the second DV8 Kitchen location, as well as a wholesale bakery, opened in August 2021 on Third Street in East End. DV8 Kitchen is deeply involved in the community, providing workshops open to the public focused on things like second chance employment, re-entry simulations, and Narcan training; hosting community gatherings and a community run at Keeneland; and holding employee workshops on a variety of topics.

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Hope Center
298 W. Loudon Avenue, 40508
(859) 585-9180
​www.hopectr.org

Founded in 1993, the Hope Center was created in response to the growing need for homeless services in Lexington. What began as a basic emergency shelter has evolved into a multi-faceted organization offering over 30 programs across eight locations. Unique to the organization is its holistic, long-term approach to recovery and reintegration – treating the person, not just the problem. Through initiatives like the Jacobs Hope Cafeteria and the HopeMobile street outreach program, Hope Center staff meet people where they are. Every service provided is rooted in dignity, compassion, and the belief that change is possible. Its programs have been recognized statewide as models for recovery and re-entry. In 2024, the Hope Center launched a new 30-day intensive Residential Treatment Program, and provided more than 53,000 nights of emergency shelter lodging, 124,000 meals, and 83,000 items of clothing.