enters the room, takes the lid off the container and exposes a treasure trove of chocolates. “Jeff didn’t offer you any chocolate?” she asks. Kahane pokes his head in the door, eager to show the visitor a document that requires a stamp of compliance from the City of Calgary. Taped to it is a package of mini-chocolate eggs.

     Kahane says he models his management style after his father who runs a meat processing plant in Calgary. Kahane acknowledges meat processing is completely different from real estate law (well, sometimes), but far many years he watched his father treat employees with respect and appreciation, which helped his father retain long-term, reliable workers in that backbreaking industry. “If you treat people well, they will work so much harder,” Kahane says.

     In addition to chocolates, flowers and weekly lunches for his employees, Kahane doles out regular bonuses and overtime pay for his 10-member staff that often stays late to finish contracts for clients. “He’s a lot like a friend,” Lam says of Kahane.

     “I reallyappreciate them,” Kahane says. “Treat employees like gold and everything is gold.”

Left to right Joyce Schneider. Julie Horst, Jeff Kahane. Dorlisa Lam, and John Dunphy.