With more than triple the participation in its sophomore year, the Craig Business Plan competition continues to grow.

During the Oct. 22 Craig City Council meeting, two winners emerged as part of the second annual contest, which is aimed at incentivizing local entrepreneurs who are looking to either start up a small business or expand one already in operation.

The program is a venture through Craig and Moffat County, in partnership with the Northwest Colorado Small Business Development Center, the Craig Economic Development Advisory Committee and the Moffat County Local Marketing District.

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Before announcing the recipients of this year’s funding, Shannon Scott — economic development manager for the city — acknowledged the four finalists in the crowd, who made the shortlist from seven total applicants.

Scott said the first of the two phases of the competition was to provide a business overview that identifies a market problem, a product or service idea, the market served, customer base, revenue-generation management profile and funds required.

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Draft business plans also included an executive summary, business description, operations plan, management profile, market analysis, sales strategy and financial analysis.

Finalists, as detailed in a press release, included:

• New-CO All Seasons Produce — Dr. Timothy Hazlett offers a unique suite of products and services that revolutionize the way fresh produce is grown and distributed in the Rocky Mountain region. Their primary product will be a line of year-round, locally grown fresh produce from their innovative passive solar greenhouses, designed to thrive in the challenging environmental conditions of Northwestern Colorado, Southern Wyoming and Eastern Utah. In addition to their fresh produce, they will offer a range of products and services including greenhouse design and fabrication, greenhouse site preparation and construction and consulting services for greenhouse design and construction.

• Harmonie House — Jennifer and Paul Pieroni operate a nonprofit 501(c)3 that is currently undergoing licensing to become a home health care agency and a Program Approved Service Agency by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to provide direct community-based services to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities, approved for Medicaid waiver services.

• High Altitude Geothermal — A family-operated business founded by Matt and Kristine Cooper, aiming to provide high-quality geothermal drilling and excavation services in Northwest Colorado and surrounding areas to meet the increasing demand for renewable energy in residential and commercial sectors.

• Moffat County Customs — A car audio shop owned by Dan and Katie Johnston located in Craig and serving the greater Yampa Valley. The company specializes in 12-volt work consisting not only of car audio, subwoofer and amplifiers but also remote start, security systems and custom work. The custom 12-volt work that Moffat County Customs provides extends to all vehicles including side-by-sides, campers, off-road vehicles and even boats.

“The quality of the final entries that you all submitted was exceptional and really worthy of recognition,” Scott said after introducing all of them.

The contest offered greater prize money this year, moving from $20,000 in funds to $30,000.

Winning in the start-up category was Harmonie House, with the full Pieroni family — parents Jennifer and Paul and kids Trey and Arayah — collecting a giant check for $15,000.

“We are bringing services and support to people with disabilities to provide independence that have not been available before,” Jennifer said.

The Pieronis have been working on the project since early 2023 and have been operating out of their home since then.

“We’ll be using this money for marketing to let the community know that these services are available and for some technical assistance in licensing to provide them,” Jennifer said.

Her husband added that pitching their business in this manner helped them better determine what all they wanted to do and what they needed to make it happen.

“I feel like without the competition, we’d probably still just be winging it,” Paul said. “This really forced us to put something together.”

Another check for the same amount in the existing business category went to the Johnstons and Moffat County Customs.

The couple has been operating MCC since 2020 — also out of a home base — but thanks to the new influx of cash, they will soon be able to set up shop in a larger location.

“That’s been the challenge for us working out of our garage,” Katie Johnston said. “He does the work and I do the books. We’ve been looking at commercial spaces, and we’re hoping to be in that new space before January.”

Next year’s Business Plan Competition will be open in July, and the details for entering are available at discovercraig.com.

Mayor Chris Nichols and Councilor Andrea Camp were among the judges who helped select this year’s winners. As experienced business owners themselves, the two noted how accessible the contest was for people still going through many initial stages and significant paperwork.

“These were really tough to judge,” Nichols said. “Hopefully, we have more successful small businesses starting in our community.”