In their comments, the judges said the company had successfully transformed from its beginnings as an aid project into a market-focused commercial enterprise.
"Heilala has aligned with influential food media and high-profile chefs in the USA, and has demonstrated a commitment to innovation through a collaboration with Massey University to create value-added products," the judges said. "The company has also established a foundation to support the local community in Tonga where the vanilla bean crop is grown."
Heilala Vanilla has been recognised by the food industry with multiple awards, but was entering the AmCham awards for the first time. Ms Boggiss said taking part in the awards process had helped the company solidify some key strategic objectives.
"It just exposes you to a whole new set of networks that we hadn't been in front of before and raises your profile."
Heilala Vanilla has been exporting to the US for four years, and had won some great accounts, she said.
"We have had a traditional bricks and mortar distribution model, but the cost is high for a premium, slower-moving product," she said. "We supply quite a few high-profile retailers, but they just don't do the volumes. So we launched on Amazon four weeks ago and it's going really well."
The winners were announced in Auckland last week. The Supreme Award winner, chosen from amongst the category winners, was Douglas Pharmaceuticals.