Tanoor and Nan Gordon win top Sammamish business honors
The residents of Sammamish voted for the restaurant Tanoor, and real estate broker Nan Gordon, as winners of the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce’s top business honors for 2022.
These winners were announced during the Chamber’s Annual Luncheon on Oct. 20. Tanoor was selected as “Best Business of the Year,” while Gordon won the honor of being the “Best Business Person of the Year.”
The Chamber has been handing out these awards since they started this luncheon event in 2017.
Nominations are made by members of the Chamber, who then vote to narrow it down to four nominees within each category. The final winners are selected via a survey that was open for public voting.
Tanoor, founded in 2017, made the nomination list this year because of their commitment to the community to stay open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic by shifting quickly to takeout orders, while also remaining consistent in their excellence with food quality and service.
Wassim Fayed, the cofounder of Tanoor and a former Microsoft employee, believes they were recognized by the community because of their core principles of operation and their support to local charities. They source high quality ingredients and treat their staff well, which translates to good customer service. Fayed also supports local organizations such as Issaquah Schools Foundation and Sammamish Mosque. They are often willing to donate to clubs at local schools that come to them for gift cards and sponsorship funds.
“I felt honored just to be nominated,” said Fayed, who learned about his nomination via Facebook posts before seeing the email from the Chamber.
“Good food, good service and good environment is the formula for success. Everything I learnt at Microsoft, I applied here in terms of process and management style,” said Fayed.
Gordon, who is a broker at John L. Scott Real Estate, has been in business on the plateau for about 15 years. She received a nomination because she is viewed by the community as a strong cheerleader for all things local, according to the Chamber’s voting form. Gordon hosts a business breakfast once a month at Sammamish Café. This, according to Gordon, made her stand out from other nominees during public voting.
‘[It’s a] great honor to be recognized for professionalism in my community,” said Gordon.
The Chamber might expand public participation for this award next year.
“We are considering next year having a couple community nominations where the public can nominate any business. At this time, we did not have the bandwidth to make that work,” said Dawn Sanders, the Chamber’s president.
