Established business winners, from left: Nancy Corle of The Food Store; Aphaphanh Nussbaum and Fred Steiner of BCE; and Jonah Agner of The Food Store.
Submitted photo
Emerging business winners, from left: Luke Keuneke of Cutting Edge; Aphaphanh Nussbaum and Fred Steiner of BCE; Nick Recker of Cutting Edge; and Brendon Matthews of BCE.
Submitted photo
BLUFFTON — Five businesses were winners in this year’s Bluffton Center for Entrepreneur’s Ropp Triplett Business Plan Competition. Each business received a cash prize.
Emerging Business Division winners include:
•First place — Cutting Edge Woodcraft, Bluffton; owned by Nicholas Recker and Luke Keuneke; $4,000
•Second place — Art Me!, Ottawa; owned by Kirstene Adkins; $1,000
•Third place — SturdyBed LLC, Lima; owned by Barry McCullough; $500
Established Bluffton Business Division winners include:
•First place – The Food Store; Jonah Agner and Nancy Corle, who plan to take over the business this spring; $1,000
•Second place – The Sports Warehouse; Natalie Mueller; $500 in gift-in-kind support
With 12 contestants, this was the largest-ever field in the annual BCE event. BCE has awarded more than $60,000 in cash prize money since the competition’s inception.
