Rainer named as Business Person of Year by chamber
By BARRY HALVORSON bhalvorson@journal-spectator.com

Staff Photo by Chris Barbee Jeff Rainer is congratulated by Billie Jones as being named the Business Person of the Year during the Wharton Chamber of Commerce Banquet, held March 11. This was the 89th annual event, which included a catered meal, entertainment by Joe and Dixie Waldrop and Mickey Reynolds and the honoring of Joe and Merle Hudgins for their contributions in preserving the county's history.

When it came time to select this year's Wharton Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture Business Person of the Year, one name leaped off the list.

This year's honoree is Jeff Rainer with Sonic Drive-In. The award was announced at the Chamber's 89th Annual Banquet, held March 11.

"His selection was a nobrainer," Chamber Chairman of the Board Cheryl Roach said. "He was a unanimous decision of the banquet committee."

Ranier said that he was honored by the award, which caught him off guard.

"I was actually quite surprised by it and only learned I'd been selected right before it was announced," he said. He added that the honor really needs to be shared with is wife Kelly.

"We do this together," he said. "She is the bookkeeper and accountant and I'm the operations guy. We work well together as a team."

Roach said the selection process starts with the chamber accepting nominations from the organizations membership for the award.

Once those are collected, the banquet committee makes the selection based not only on a person's business acumen but also on their community involvement.

"That is where Jeff really stood out this year," Roach said. "He was the chairman of the Christmas Parade and served committees for a number of activities."

Rainer has been the chair of the parade for the past seven years and said the teamwork aspect of the event is what appeals to him most about the event.

"I'm a big advocate of the chamber of commerce because it is an important part of putting together the volunteer effort that communities this size need to be competitive. You've got a lot of people who are dedicated and put in a lot of hard work."

And the chamber isn't the only beneficiary of Rainer's community spirit.

"He does things like cutting up the onions for the Pilot Club (chili dinner) fundraiser," Roach said. "I don't think there is a civic organization in the city that has approached him for help that has been turned down."

That community approach is one of his business foundations, Rainer said.

"When my wife and I moved to Wharton to run the business we knew we wanted to be part of the community," he said. "As a business, you can just take, take, take from a community. You have to give something back also."

Rainer has been a resident of Wharton since moving to the city in July of 1995.

"We grew up in Norman (Okla.) and Wharton is really just a scaled down version of that city," he said.

In addition to Wharton, the family business also operates Sonic Drive-In restaurants in East Bernard, Columbus, Palacios and two restaurants in North Carolina.