CRANBERRY TWP — Esther Cochran, a Red Lobster waitress, won this year's grand prize in the Butler County Service Excellence Award program.

The program was developed by the Butler County Tourism Bureau for the first time this year.

Selected by bureau-trained secret shoppers for providing above-grade service, 40 honorees shared a meal Thursday at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Jack Cohen, tourism bureau president, commended them for their work ethic and demeanor.

“Every guest means something special,” he said to the crowd. “Everything we do, the goal is the proper service.”

Cochran said as she sat at a table with others, she could sense camaraderie and pride.

“Even though we were strangers, we had something connecting us,” she said.

After recognizing each nominee with a certificate and a $25 Butler County gift card, Amy Pack, director of tours and development, called the three finalists — Kenneth Ferguson from the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company, Beka Souzer of Natili North and Cochran — to the front.

Each had their own story of exemplary service.

Cochran said, after hearing how Ferguson worked at the Saxonburg Carnival in 90-degree heat, wearing a mascot costume, she thought that he would win the grand prize of $1,000.

“There's no way you can compare us,” Cochran said. “I'm sure everybody else was just as deserving.”

Cohen told the audience, “You have to be the individual that makes the difference. These people get this, they understand it.”

He said this was about recognizing the people in Butler County that make each day special, even if it doesn't seem it at the time.

Cochran said all of this started with a simple conversation with a couple she had waited on before.

“I just started waiting on them and talking,” she said.

She talked to them about her life, wanting to accomplish a recent project. She opened herself to them, related to them, she said.

Before she knew it, the secret shopper told her that she was nominated.

Cochran said she's not one who typically likes recognition, but appreciated someone noticing the effort she puts in each day.

“Truthfully, any job I have, I put my heart and soul into it,” she said. “It's how I was raised,”

She said sometimes good service is about perseverance, taking a breath and remembering.

“It's not an easy job sometimes,” Cochran said. “You realize that you're there to help people, to serve people.”

The next batch of secret shoppers — the tourism bureau calls them ambassadors — have already been selected for the season, which will continue into spring.

“Service is everything we do,” Cohen said. “This is a perfect example of what we should be doing in our community.”

Cochran said she believes in the message that the bureau is trying to send: to be your best and counter the negative with a smile.

“There's so much negative news,” she said. “Keep it positive. There's good stuff here too.”