Kenton Brothers Chili Cook-Off Results!

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By Courtney Emra, Lead Customer Service/Sales Assistant at Kenton Brothers

2022 Chili Cookoff ResultsEvery Halloween at Kenton Brothers, we get together for a chili cook-off. Our team brings the best to the table, from family recipes to just “winging it”.

The Wooden Spoon Award

This year, we had 11 staff members enter the competition for the Wooden Spoon award. This spoon marks previous winners and will be passed along in the coming years. We all went through and tried each of the chilis and were surprised with the variety. Some were spicy while others were sweet. One was made with turkey and another made with Italian sausage!

And the winner is…

2022 Chili Cookoff ResultsAfter our stomachs were full and the votes were in, the winner was announced: David Strickland!

I spoke with David regarding what was in his chili (and what made it so good.) He was inspired by a friend’s recipe who has won the Lenexa Chili Cookoff four times. (Of course, David switched it up a bit to make it his own.) The key ingredient is BACON. He stated you cook the chopped-up bacon for the chili, but you don’t throw out the bacon grease. You use that leftover grease to sauté your vegetables (peppers, onions, etc.) Another key ingredient is Ancho Chiles. He dehydrated them and then grounded them down to add to the chili. David mentioned that in his friends recipe, they said to use beef stock ; he decided to cut that out and use Sam Adams OctoberFest Beer instead. :)

We also can’t forget to shoutout to our 2nd place winner: John Bushey and our tied 3rd places winners: Danielle Hoover & Gene Ross.

Congratulations to everyone! It was a delightful afternoon and a great way to spend time together as a team.

2022 Chili Cookoff Results 2022 Chili Cookoff Results

Milestone Hosts Kenton Brothers at Powder Creek Shooting Park

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Milestone Hosts Kenton Brothers at Powder Creek Shooting Park“SPICED ICE” – Partnerships

SPICED ICE is the acronym for our core values. The acronym stands for Service, Quality, Partnerships, Integrity, Continuous Learning, Ethics, Dependability, Innovation, Customer Focus, and Employee Focus.

As part of the SPICED ICE we practice daily here at Kenton Brothers, we recently had an opportunity to focus on “partnerships”. Milestone’s Channel Business Manager for the southern region, Tyler Green, and National Sales Manager, Armand Steffens, graciously invited our Kenton Brothers field staff to blast off some steam at Powder Creek Shooting Park.

Powder Creek Shooting Park

Milestone Hosts Kenton Brothers at Powder Creek Shooting ParkPowder Creek Shooting Park is located at 8601 Monticello Rd, Lenexa, KS 66227. It is Kansas City’s premier shotgun shooting park that was established in 1949, originally known as “Kansas Field and Gun Dog Association”. They currently are a member-owned and operated facility with shooting options of trap, skeet, 5-stand, sporting clays, and archery.

Our team was happy to get together outside of working hours. Some of the participants had experience shooting shotguns, but for some this was a new experience. That created plenty of opportunities for teamwork and coaching. There was a little competition between some of the technicians, Austin Daniel and Jeremy Shinneman.

“It started out pretty chill, but then became more competitive near the end. Austin ALMOST beat Jeremy on the scorecard” – Paul Bennett

We’re proud to be a team-oriented workplace and love opportunities to spend quality time with our partners. We appreciate the Milestone team for offering this thrilling chance to build on our relationship!

KB Picnic! One Big Happy Family

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KB PicnicBy Courtney Emra, Lead Customer Service/Sales Assistant at Kenton Brothers

At Kenton Brothers, we take pride in being customer focused as well as employee focused. Both of these are key Core Values. We use the acronym “SPICED ICE” to identify our values. The C and E in “ICE” stand for Customer Focus and Employee Focus.

One of the ways we focus on our employees is creating opportunities to get together outside of work. We provide lots of team-oriented activities; including happy hours, hot dog crawls, Pickleball tournaments and more. And the cherry on top is when we get to celebrate tiny new additions to our extended KB Family.

Recently, we organized a company-wide family picnic!

We decided to go to Longview Lake and reserved Shelter #11. Longview Lake is just minutes from south Kansas City and has almost 1,000 beautiful acres of wide open spaces that are perfect for gatherings. They also have 14 shelters you can reserve and tons of amenities.

Gene Ross grilled up hotdogs and burgers, and staff members brought side dishes/desserts in true potluck form. Michelle Fenton brought some fun yard games and many others brought their furry family members. Everyone had a great time!

Photo Gallery

Country Club Bank: Partnerships make business FUN!

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By Gina Stuelke, CEO of Kenton Brothers

Country Club BankAt Kenton Brothers Systems for Security (KB), one of our top core values is creating meaningful partnerships. These include partnerships with our internal customers, our external customers, our vendors and our professional resources such as Country Club Bank.

Country Club Bank (CCB) is local, they’re homegrown and they understand what it means to live in Kansas City. They understand what it’s like to do business here and to raise a family here. These are characteristics we share and part of the reason that they are a key partner for Kenton Brothers. As family owned and operated organizations, we’re both built on the importance of doing what we say we will. That is a trait deeply engrained in how we work, and has been passed to family members from generation to generation.

Our Country Club Bank Team

I’m especially proud of the CCB team that supports KB, led by Joe Close and Daniel Zinser.  I’ve watched them as they have grown and contributed to the CCB organization. We’ve worked with Joe since the early 2000’s and have watched his leadership elevate to the role of bank President. He’s played a major role in mentoring our current point man, Senior Vice President of Commercial Lending, Daniel Zinser.

Daniel Zinser

Daniel Zinser

I talked with Daniel about the impact Joe Close has had as his mentor. “Similar to sports, our mentors/coaches have a huge impact on our futures. I have been blessed to experience that in my personal and professional life. Working under Joe Close, now President of CCB, early in my lending career taught me many valuable skills which I seek to share each day to the benefit of my teammates and clients. His trust empowered me to take ownership of our clients which in turn, allowed them to be better served on a daily basis. Although bumps were encountered along the way, his positivity and support kept me focused on the days ahead. As he would say, onward and upward.”

I also asked Daniel about the best part of working at CCB. “During my time as an intern, and the 14 years since, I have interacted with many different people throughout the bank. I first noted the longevity and commitment numerous employees had made to the bank and the Thompson family. I knew this would not be possible unless the organization as a whole and its goals were aligned. Furthermore, I saw the impact and reputation Country Club Bank had in our city and that resonated with me. Byron Thompson (founder) had a quote – surround yourself with good people and good things will happen – I think this epitomizes the CCB culture.” (I totally agree!)

One of the most impressive differentials that sets so many of the CCB team members apart, is that they care. Care and concern are rare qualities in today’s business arena! Kudos to the Thompson family and the quality organization they have built. You should be proud!

The Breakfast Club! Quarterly family meetings at Kenton Brothers.

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By David Strickland, Vice President of Kenton Brothers

Kenton Brothers Breakfast ClubQuarterly Family meetings at Kenton Brothers Systems for Security are in a word: AWESOME!

Yes, we call our quarterly meetings Family meetings. Why? Because we’re a family business and our connection to each other is more than just an employee/employer relationship. We’re connected, like a family, through the best of times and the worst of times. When you go through good and tough times together, it creates a bond. Stronger than friendship… we’re family.

Last year (2020) was a tough year for everyone including our family members. Kenton Brothers Systems for Security is a critical infrastructure protection company and an essential business. We were open during 2020, but it was very different. Our field personnel couldn’t be in the office for meetings. And there were strict protocols in place for sanitization and social distancing that made contact and communication difficult.

Our teams had to sanitize before entering job sites in the mornings and their homes at night. They had to brace for the unknown each day, and they did it without wavering. 2020 was tough, but it brought out the best in our teams. Even though we weren’t able to be together, the teamwork was never stronger!

Kenton Brothers Quarterly Breakfast Family Meetings Kenton Brothers Quarterly Breakfast Family Meetings

Welcome Back!

Fast forward to 2021 – It’s looking a lot better. Recently, we were able to hold our 2nd quarter family meeting. The night before we held a “getting back together celebration, that included a happy hour with board games and puzzles as well as a tasting of offerings from Boulevard Brewery, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic. (Thank you Boulevard Brewery for your support and for being a great customer!)

It was a great bonding time. Seeing everyone together again was awesome. The laughter filled the showroom and the gamesmanship was in full effect. This is a competitive bunch!

The next morning, we had our traditional Family Breakfast complete with French toast, bacon, eggs, potatoes and fruit. Breakfast Club is what we call it and there’s nothing like starting off a day of updates, collaboration, training and learning with bacon and good coffee!

Kenton Brothers Quarterly Breakfast Family Meetings Kenton Brothers Quarterly Breakfast Family Meetings

Where we’re at, where we’re going and how we’re going to get there!

Quarterly Family Meetings are important at Kenton Brothers because they give us a chance to let everyone that makes up this family know where we’re at, where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.

This meeting allows us to celebrate our performance and reaffirm how important our core values are. It gives us time to talk about our boss… The Customer and how important they are to us. It also serves to reunite out satellite offices and help them know they’re part of something much bigger than their four walls.

This one in particular also helped remind us that we really missed being around each other over the last year. It helped us remember how blessed we are to have each other and to call each other Family.

How has your company culture fared over the past 15 months? Are you taking the extra time to encourage connection and celebrate reunions as everyone gets serious about going back to the office? We would love to hear your stories… and thanks for being part of our story by reading this one!

Kenton Brothers Quarterly Breakfast Family Meetings Kenton Brothers Quarterly Breakfast Family Meetings Kenton Brothers Quarterly Breakfast Family Meetings