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Bellettini is Business Person of the Year 2011
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| KIRK
BELLETTINI, owner of Bellettini Foods in Wilmington, was chosen to be
the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce 2011 Business Person of the Year in
recognition of his contribution to the community. Bellettini will be the
grand marshal of the Winter Wonderland lighted Christmas parade
Saturday, and light the community Christmas tree in Claire's Corner
Park. |
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Few in Wilmington would know him if they passed him on the street, but
hundreds of people benefit from what he does every month.
For his unsung efforts, Kirk Bellettini, owner of Bellettini Foods in
the Winchester Green Shopping Center, was selected as the Wilmington
Chamber of Commerce and Industry's 2011 Business Person of the Year.
The Bellettini family purchased Baron's Foods in 1987, and at one time
operated four Bellettini Foods stores - the first was located in Coal
City. Kirk is a third-generation independent grocer who wound up the
owner of the Seneca and Wilmington stores after his father retired.
Bellettini grew up in the business. He was a meat cutter by the time he
graduated from Coal City High School, and worked in every one of the
family stores, doing every job along the way. He came to the Wilmington
store as the scanning coordinator, and saw the business through decades
worth of industry developments.
His long-term contributions to the community earned him recognition from his peers in the business community.
The long-running Bellettini Foods charitable rebate program totaled
more than $7,000 from January through October, and is on track for the
store's average $10,000 to $12,000 contribution to the community for
2011, Bellettini said.
The store also made more than $5,200 worth of other donations; merchandise, discounts and gift cards; so far this year.
"As of October, we've put back in the community $12,000," Bellettini
said. "When you consider that a grocery store operates on roughly a 1
percent bottom line, you have to sell a lot of groceries to recoup
$12,000.
"But ... I was brought up to believe
you have to give back to the community. My dad was very
community-oriented, and I think that, when you're a small business
owner, and you've grown up in small towns you realize that the
non-profit organizations need help.
"If you're going to live in and support the community, that's what you do. It's just part of business," he said.
On top of its rebates and donations, Bellettini Foods allows non-profit
organizations to use its food trailer for weekend fundraiser cookouts -
the only stipulation is that they buy their supplies from the store, at
a discount.
"We've had Relay for Life, just
about every school organization ... we've had the VFW women's auxiliary.
Pretty much anybody who comes to us," he said. Weekends start booking
in the spring, and organizations are allowed to cook all weekend, if
they like.
"I feel it gives them an opportunity
to raise some money. It's in a high-traffic area - you'd have to beat
on a lot of doors to make the money that they can make in an afternoon
here," Bellettini said.
The cookouts are also an event for the grocery store. Friends and
family come to support the organization, and in turn, stop in for a few
grocery items.
Bellettini Foods also helps fill
the shelves at the Kuzma Care Cottage, run by Sr. Ann Ellen Quirk. Sr.
Ann Ellen brings a list of needed items, Bellettini and his store
manager and right hand Debbie Corlett watch for the items to come up on
special, and purchase them when the price is right.
"She's (Sr. Ann Ellen) always giving us a wish list of what she needs,
and then as we see it come up, we buy it for her," Bellettini said.
The store also helps the Christian Help Association, which focuses on
helping the community's less fortunate by providing holiday meals, gifts
and winter outerwear.
"This time of year,
we're pretty active with them. We'll bring a pallet of vegetables in for
them; to us, it may be trading dollars, but if it helps them, what's it
hurt me?" Bellettini commented. "Our philosophy is, we're here to help
the community any way we can," he said.
Bellettini is one of the last independent grocery operators in the
region, and is committed to providing the best value and quality
possible while meeting the wants and needs of the community.
"My name is on the front of the building. I take the good and the bad
home with me at the end of the day. It's a reflection of me and what I
do. I care about when ... things aren't right," he explained.
Bellettini sold the Seneca store earlier this month, but is not yet on a
retirement track. Instead, he is actively chasing the competition in
the Wilmington store. He's planning some improvements beginning after
the first of the year; a front-end remodel adding a check lane to get
customers through the door quicker.
Kirk is
married to Rose-Anne, and has four daughters, one step-daughter and one
step-son - two are still in college - and three grandchildren.
Bellettini was selected from six nominees. He becomes the 13th Business
Person of the Year. He will be the grand marshal of the Winter
Wonderland Parade, which steps off from the middle school campus at 5
p.m. The parade, which signals Santa's official arrival in Wilmington,
marches north on Water Street and ends at Van Buren Street.
Bellettini will light the community Christmas tree at approximately 5:30 p.m.
"used with the permission of The Free Press Advocate"
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