Arctic Spas Oakville Group is basking in such an honour after being named number 52 of Canada's 100 fastest growing companies by the publication Profit: Your Guide to Business Success.

"Profit 100 companies are the new heroes of Canadian business, creating jobs at home and products used around the world," said Profit Editor in Chief, Ian Portsmouth.

"They've accomplished this by building great employee teams, exploiting export markets and rapidly responding to the customer's fast-changing needs."

For Arctic Spas Oakville Group President Trevor Wasney, being named one of the Profit 100 is like having a dream come true.

"I think it's great, especially for our employees to have that sort of recognition is really wonderful. It makes everybody feel good about what they've achieved," he said.

"It just a great honour. We're in amongst exceptional companies in Canada and it's nice to be associated with that group."

Contenders for positions in Profit magazine's 100 had to endure extensive interviews in which every aspect of the applicant's business is scrutinized and dissected in an effort to determine how the business achieved success over the last five years.

"They look at your financial statements, you have to show them your full blown financial statements," said Wasney.

"You can't hold anything back."

In the end, Wasney's six-year-old business was chosen, and it's not particularly hard to see why.

"We started in Oakville in 2001 right at the corner of Forth Line and Speers Road and we started very small with the one store, but since then we've grown to a chain of six stores," he said.

With its head office located in Oakville, Arctic Spas now has a presence in Kitchener, Hamilton, Barrie, Mississauga and Richmond Hill.

"Pretty much a store a year," said Wasney.

Arctic Spas' secret to success, know your product.

"We've really sort of broken new ground in terms of hot tub retailing. Most hot tub retailers are small mom and pop operations and nobody has really specialized in the industry like we have in terms of that's all we do are basically high end hot tubs and billiards under the Arctic Spa brand," said Wasney.

"To be able to focus on core products like that and develop that business under that brand has really led to a lot of success. It's better to be great at one thing than alright at a number of things."

Besides specialization Wasney has also gotten a leg up on his competitors by not closing his stores during the winter.

"A lot of them are pool builders that sell hot tubs as a side line, they shut down in the winter because no one is building pools," he said.

"We service our people 365 days a year."

Wasney's success might also have something to do with his company's attitude that the hot tub is the new dinner table or bar.

"A lot of people are staying at home, they're entertaining at home, they're kids are at home. It's just a great product for friends and family."

While all the Profit 100 companies received a framed certificate commemorating their ranking, Wasney says the added bonus of being present at a ceremony with Canada's greatest business minds at the Granite Club in Toronto was an experience in itself.

"Some of the people at the dinner were Canada's leaders of business. I mean the movers and shakers of business. To be sitting at a table next to the CEO of RIM who does over $3 billion in business was quite a treat," he said.

Another high point of this experience is that to the best of his knowledge, Artic Spas is the only hot tub retailer to crack the Profit 100 list. However, all this has proven insufficient for Wasney who is planning for an even more stellar future with 10 more stores planned for southern Ontario.

"I think we have a pretty good shot of making that list again next year."