Cabinet Concepts by Design wins chamber’s Small Business Award

Last edited 1:08 p.m., May 4, 2022

Cabinet Concepts by Design this afternoon was the recipient of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 W. Curtis Strube Small Business Award.

“I’d like to thank all our clients and customers,” said Matt Wehner, Cabinet Concepts by Design co-owner, after accepting the award during the chamber’s annual luncheon at Oasis Hotel & Convention Center. “I can’t believe how many are out there that we’ve built cabinets for already. We really appreciate it. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t be up here.”

Wehner also thanked his wife, Shelley, noting, “If it wasn’t for her, I’d have quit in year one. She made me keep going.”

Cabinet Concepts by Design won over finalists:
• Audio Acoustics, an audio and video equipment and services business founded in 1968;
• Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks, which has provided over $7 million in financial assistance to breast cancer patients and their families since 1999;
• H Design Group LLC, an architecture firm started in 2000 and licensed in 13 states; and
• Hold Fast Brewing, a downtown brewery in a former fire station, which debuted in 2019.

“Cabinet Concepts by Design has grown through a time-honored combination of hard work, connections with customers and taking care of their employees,” chamber President Matt Morrow said in a news release. “They’ve taken a smart approach to growth and combined it with an innovative mindset and can-do attitude, and the result is a thriving business that we’re proud to recognize with this award.”

Founded in 2007, Cabinet Concepts by Design designs, manufactures, delivers and installs custom cabinets and closets, mainly for residential clients.

The Wehners purchased a four-person cabinet shop 15 years ago and rebranded it Cabinet Concepts by Design. The company grew in its initial Nixa facility before expanding and moving in 2014 to a 30,000-square-foot building in Springfield. It also added custom closet design and manufacturing in 2015 through its Simply Organized by Design division.

The company is actively involved in workforce development by connecting with area high school woodshop teachers and inviting classes to tour the facility, as well as offering tours and internships to participants in Missouri State University’s interior design program, according to the release.

Last year’s Small Business Award winner was nonprofit Harmony House. Honorees are selected based on written applications reviewed by an independent panel of judges comprising previous recipients, local business experts and volunteers from the chamber’s Small Business Council. The council was founded by the late Curtis Strube, a former director at Drury University’s Breech School of Business Administration. The 31st annual Small Business Award is given in his honor.

Read more about this year’s winner and finalists in the May 9 edition of Springfield Business Journal.