New business in Palisade wins third place in Hormel contest

    A business in Stratton won the 2021 Hormel Entrepreneurship Competition and an $8,000 first prize award.
    The announcement came at McCook Community College Friday after judges considered business plans from six local entrepreneurs, all of which received at least $2,000.
    A business proposal from Matt and Camie Cox of Wauneta, Happy’s Feed Store and Fuel Center in Palisade, took third place and a $4,000 cash prize. The business will operate on Highway 6, just south of the Palisade intersection.
    Impact Closet Boutique LLC in Culbertson received second place and $7,000.
    In presenting the combined $25,000 in prize money, Andy Long, McCook Economic Development Corp. Executive Director, said this year’s competition was one of the closest competitions ever.
    “When the judges considered all six of the presentations, I think it was a consensus of the judges that this year’s six finalists was the best group ever, with a very slim margin in the scoring between them all,” he said.
    In their first place business plan for Heritage Acres Drive-thru Market, Chris and Paul Sandberg of Stratton said they will use the money to expand their farmer’s market established in July 2020 from their website heritageacres.net.
    They sell their own products as well as food items from other local producers.
    In their business proposal, Happy’s Feed Store and Fuel Center in Palisade, Camie Cox presented their plans to start a 24-hour fuel station with food, drinks, snacks and a full inventory of bagged animal feed, minerals and supplements. They expect to have two employees.
    The competition opened Nov. 1 with judges selecting semifinalists who received scholarships (valued at about $336) to attend an eight-week online Entrepreneurship Business Plan writing class offered through Mid-Plains Community College.
    The main objective of the Hormel Entrepreneurship Competition at McCook Community College is to stimulate entrepreneurship and support business expansion in southwest Nebraska.
    The Hormel Family Foundation was founded in 1999 by the late Ben F. Hormel, a McCook entrepreneur, to support McCook Community College.
    Along with the Hormal Family Foundation, this year’s sponsors included McCook Economic Development, MNB, McCook Community Foundation Fund, Community Hospital, McCook Community College Foundation and McCook Community College.