The Capes family is looking to further grow its medical supplies business after winning three awards, including the supreme award, at the 2010 Tauranga Business Awards.

Peter Capes with the trophies won at the 2010 Westpac Tauranga Business Awards.

Capes Medical won the Westpac Business of the Year Award, the Business Growth Award and the Customer Service Award.

The family business is 10 years old and was started in the Capes family's garage by David Capes, a former purchasing and supply manager at Tauranga Hospital.

He, his wife and his son Peter are the directors of the company and they have 14 other staff members working in sales, warehouse distribution and administration.

The company supplies medical products including instrumentation, wound care products and general medical disposables, to medical clinics, GPs, District Health Boards, vet clinics, and dentists.

Winning the business growth award is of great value to the Capes family and David says the company's growth can be put down to word-of-mouth from satisfied customers.

Capes Medical performance manager Emil Verster says winning the awards is an exciting opening of a new chapter for the business.

'The future is quite bright on so many levels as we haven't had a high local profile,” says Emil. 'That is, until now.”
He says Capes Medical is a unique company in the way that it delivers what the customer wants and doesn't substitute a product for something else.
They don't market specific products to the customer; instead, the customer requests the product they want and Capes Medical buys it on their behalf.

'We are brand neutral, we ask what are you looking for? And if we don't deal with that particular product we point them in the right direction.”