COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL | WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2019 | 7A
variety of hand-crafted beers
and coffee, all brewed on
site, on the corner of Hwy 99
and Main Street.
“Currently, Cottage Grove
does not have a brewery and
sit-down coffee house to call
its own,” Chapman said in
the group’s pitch.
Between them, Barclay
and Sampson claim decades
of expertise in coffee and
Challenge from A1
present) took home the first-
place prize of $6,000.
“There aren’t many times
that I can say I’m stunned,
but today I’m stunned,” Bar-
clay said.
The start-up’s business
plan involves providing a
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beer brewing, respectively.
The founders are keen to
open the business sometime
in the summer, but they say
the date has been a moving
target.
The Business Challenge
winnings will provide the
group with some temporary
financial relief, said Barclay.
“It’s really going to help us
continue moving forward,”
he said, adding that about
$200,000 of the founders’
own money has been in-
vested in the business so far.
“We’re at the point where we
need more funding to con-
tinue moving.”
Chapman added, “It’s
helping to bridge that gap
while we’re waiting for fi-
nancing and a couple other
pieces to fall into place.”
Revitalized Concrete took
the second-place prize of
$3,000. Business owner An-
drew Abeyta described his
start-up as offering “decora-
tive concrete services” which
help to avoid the wasteful
and costly process of com-
plete replacement of deteri-
orated or damaged concrete.
“The cement industry is
one of the largest producers
of man-made emissions in
the world,” Abeyta said. “So,
they have a very big carbon
footprint.”
Abeyta said his company
produces a high-polymer
stampable concrete overlay
which can adhere to the top
of existing concrete slabs
and provide a degree of
strength and durability that
will reduce the need for re-
placement.
“It’s cutting down the
carbon emissions relating
to concrete,” said Abeyta, a
second-generation concrete
worker.
The overlays may also act
a sort of canvas as designs
can be engraved into the
surface, making it a visually
attractive product for people
who want some creativity in
their projects.
Abeyta said he planned
to expand his operation of
affordable concrete products
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COTTAGE GROVE, OR
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DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Shoppe Free Rein owner Melanie Stuhlmiller delivers her five-minute business
pitch to judges. Stuhlmiller took third place in the Business Challenge.
in the local market.
In third place, Mela-
nie Stuhlmiller, owner of
women’s clothing boutique
Shoppe Free Rein, accepted
a $1,000 reward.
The business has been
selling retail clothing online
for about three years.
“My ‘why’ is to make sure
women feel beautiful and
supported in everything that
they do,” Stuhlmiller said,
adding that she wanted to
create a space for Cottage
Grove women to shop with-
out having to make the trip
to Eugene.
Stuhlmiller played down
the importance of being
awarded, however.
“Winning doesn’t impact
[the business],” she said. “For
me, just being a part of it was
the impact — just learning
so much and meeting new
people and planning out
the next step for my busi-
ness was the most important
thing that I got from this.”
Stuhlmiller is keeping her
fingers crossed for the cloth-
ing store to expand into a
storefront on Main Street in
July.
Other businesses in the
top five included Clear Fo-
cus Enterprises, producer
of a Matcha Green Tea and
lemonade-mixed beverage,
and Hazel People, makers of
a hazelnut milk drink.
Hazel People co-founders
Joey Jaraczewski and An-
drew Ek were second-place
winners at the 2017 Business
Challenge with their parent
company Sohr Foods (then
called Sohr Performance +
Nutrition), a health food and
beverage provider.
In a fortuitous twist, Sohr
Foods ended up acquiring
food producer Real Live
Food Oregon, 2017’s third-
place winner. The acquisi-
tion was advantageous for
previous owner Kim John-
son, who re-entered the con-
test this year with her com-
pany Bohemia Food Hub,
which was in part made
possible by the Sohr Foods’
purchase.
Before selling Real Live
Food Oregon, Johnson had
created a commercial kitch-
en space big enough to for-
malize into a new business
model which provides sup-
port for other start-ups in
the food and beverage sec-
tor.
The transaction was a
win-win.
“We’ve done a lot since the
last time we were here,” Ek
said. “After the competition,
about a month in, we moved
our company into [John-
son’s] food kitchen and then
we ended up buying Real
Live Food Oregon last June.”
The opportunity allowed
Jaraczewski and Ek to estab-
lish a foothold and stay in
the game.
“That company and brand
keeps us alive as we get ready
to build more hype around
our hazelnut milk brand,”
said Ek.
Rounding out the awards
on Saturday, Cottage Grove
Sustainable Gardens, a sus-
tainable garden consulting
business, won $500 for Best
Elevator Pitch.
Though prize money was
an incentive, contestants
were often appreciative sim-
ply for the rewarding expe-
riences that came with the
process.
“It was great for me be-
cause I was in the middle of
scaling my business,” John-
son said of last year’s event.
“So, it gave me a lot of prac-
tice putting my business plan
together really succinctly.”
Johnson felt the experi-
ence was akin to graduating
to a new level of entrepre-
neurship.
“The winning was kind
of an extra bonus,” she said.
“It really helped me pull the
whole package together and
create a good hand-off for
my fellow food entrepre-
neurs.”
Event coordinator Kate
Brown agreed the event’s
benefits extended beyond
just the awards.
“This year we tried to put
more focus on the education
opportunities for partici-
pants and we were able to
put on two different classes
for participants to be able to
learn more about creating a
business plan,” said Brown.
Challenge
participants
were invited this year to
attend a four-part “Your
Business Plan Accelera-
tor” course, which provid-
ed three-months’ worth of
business planning software
for free.
Cottage Grove’s Business
Challenge started when local
business owner Harold Fra-
zier came to the Chamber
of Commerce with a novel
idea. Having found success
in his own business, New
Breed Seed Company, Fra-
zier was motivated to give
back to the community by
encouraging entrepreneur-
ship and job growth in form
of a $10,000 donation.
“The community had
been very welcoming to us,”
Frazier said. “And as a person
who had started a business, I
was thinking that it would be
nice to support other people
who started businesses in
the community.”
The initial model was to
issue a notice asking peo-
ple to submit their business
plans and give the best one
$10,000.
Palmer, enamored with
the idea, contacted other
people and groups such as
the Cottage Grove Commu-
nity Development Corpo-
ration and RAIN Eugene.
From these meetings, the
Business Challenge was
born.
“It’s really satisfying to me
to see all these people turn
out and support it,” said Fra-
zier, who donated another
$10,000 for this year’s event.
Frazier, too, sees the val-
ue of the event as extending
beyond the award money to
include the networking and
educational aspects.
“One is who you know
and two is feedback,” he said
of the benefits. “Creating
the Business Challenge here
I think puts people’s ideas
into an environment where
they’re going to get feedback
and they’re going to meet
people and I think both
those things are super valu-
able for being able to start a
successful business.”
While nothing is set in
stone, organizers are hope-
ful the Business Challenge
can continue in the coming
years.
“I would hope in the long
run that more local business
would see it as something
they were interested in con-
tributing to as well,” said
Frazier. “More than any-
thing, I’d just like to see peo-
ple be able to move toward
their goals and help develop
good jobs and I think that
helps raise everybody up.”
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