CHOICE TRADITIONS, INC.
HINCKLEY, OH

On time. Budgeted. Total project completion. This is our focus. This is our mission. Our commercial construction team is hands-on and strategically assembled with more than 300 years of combined construction experience! Our team’s expertise serves as our primary resource when approaching new opportunities with clients and bidding all construction projects. But it’s a combination of our people, our prices, optimizing our resources, and leveraging technology that helps us maintain a unique and competitive edge. “Choice Traditions are true professionals who I have had the pleasure of working with on several QSR projects over the past 4 years at different concepts. Each project came in on time and within our fixed budget. They have no hidden costs. Throughout the building process, I could call the Site Supervisor or Jim Santee directly and they always had a quick response to my requests or questions. Choice Traditions uses only the finest sub-contractors who were professional and hard working. They clearly understand the importance of hitting targeted dates. I highly recommend Choice Traditions to any concept in the QSR space or other construction types. These guys are legit!” Steadily moving forward one foot in front of the other; surrounding himself with good professional people, learning many key lessons along the way, the business transformed and gained momentum with every new construction and renovation project. For a few years, recurring word of mouth referrals was the only marketing plan in play. Inevitably, the journey resulted with a different target market and positional statement in 2012– Over the last five years, revenue has grown at an average rate of 47% annually. In summer of 2015, Jim received a nomination for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award and was one of the top 5 finalists in Cleveland’s regional competition. Today, the business continues to receive honorable accolades and has refined a controlled growth, long-term business strategy with restaurants and retail being our primary focus. ”. Sharp and purposeful, Jim has learned to wear many hats and whatever one is necessary to accomplish the task at hand, in the field and in business. His extensive framing and finish carpentry background helps with onsite builds and construction complications whenever they arise (and we all know they do). He possesses unique skills in a production-oriented environment. He’s efficient, effective, and thorough. Jim has targeted focus and can visualize the finish line before the job starts. Remarkably, this guy thrives in deadline situations and will not rest until the desired result is achieved. With a stunning 40-year+ career as a certified public accountant. Mike has worked at Akron’s Lomax, Soful & Foster since 1972. In September of 2012 they merged with Skoda Minotti where Mike retired from in 2016. But his idea of retirement was simply to tackle an entirely new venture in a completely different industry. Mike joined Choice Traditions late last year as one of our two chiefs, and with much weighted experience, his achievements naturally demand respect. He served in the U.S. Army as a counterintelligence special agent and served in Vietnam for one year with the 1st Air Cavalry Division. A trusted businessman and advisor to Jim, and diligently focused alongside, he now leads our business operations, assertively pushing us to strategize and perform at the next level. With Jim leading our construction division and Mike at the head of our operations, the next level is undoubtedly in sight. Matt is a maverick leader, and has quickly learned what it takes to run and manage a successful business. As a key executive and owner of privately held businesses, his strengths are derived from a combination of his ten plus years in the public accounting world and hands on experience in advisory roles. With a BS from Heidelberg University in accounting, Matt’s broad knowledge and in depth familiarity with numbers, coupled with his passion to serve and achieve unparalleled results, gives him insight and a keen ’inside-the-business‘ perspective. He is directly engaged in our business planning and helps to accomplish our goals from multiple angles. His modern methods and business casual approach tends to add a fresh and contemporary element to Choice Traditions management style and personality. Our cheery enforcer by day, Elle is a refreshing addition to the Choice team and our HR department. She has spent ample time and effort streamlining the necessary policies that any successful company must have in play and her valuable insight and professionalism has been instrumental in taking our internal programs and resources to the next level. She’s available, approachable, and a true asset to both the structure of the business as well as its employees. Elle’s previous experience in working for a real estate development company and large payroll corporation has been extremely beneficial in how she’s successfully transitioned into a commercial construction environment. Approaching a 30-year history in the construction industry, Matt is one of our most mission-minded assets. A sure-footed leader who’s resilient, protective and loyal to his team, Matt sets clear and ambitious goals with a total focus on deadlines. As a matter of fact, sometimes all he really wants to know are the start and end dates. He’s got a wide spectrum and rare combination of methods; old school/traditional meets advanced/original. Matt prefers face to face interaction over today’s more expedient ways of communication, like email. But don’t be mistaken, his daily speed is anything but slower. (pretty sure he can’t sit still for longer than 5 minutes!) Matt recently received recognition and an award from Jim for his exceptional dedication and leadership towards our new store program. With an astounding 37-years construction knowledge and experience, Mark has seen it all! His commitment to this industry over the years has reciprocated a broad list of connections, close relationships, and professional strengths including cost control, safety, schedule completion and client satisfaction. Mark is our player with the biggest heart and continuously strives to improve overall team work and communication. He is a strong one-on-one motivator and mentor-type guy who tends to take the newbie under his wing. With Mark’s widespread expertise and his appreciation for people and relationships, he proves to be a rare find in this industry and continues to be one of our most capable, versatile, and mission-minded assets. His far-reaching skills with new builds and ground-ups are unprecedented and his abilities, support, and knowledge in construction management continue to make favorable impressions on our clients, and on us. Mark recently received recognition and an award from Jim for his exceptional customer service and client relations, and has also been given what we call a “Pinnacle Rock Award”.