Three southwest Colorado companies, including two based in Durango, were among 50 businesses to make the latest list of 50 Colorado Companies to Watch.
Durango-based companies Serious Texas Bar-B-Q and Think Network Technologies, and Voormi, a Pagosa Springs-based clothing manufacturer, made the annual list, announced in June from a field of more than 1,000 applicants.
Colorado Companies to Watch is a contest among mid-size businesses with between $750,000 and $50 million in annual revenue or working capital. A panel of seven judges picked the companies based on their employee and revenue growth, entrepreneurial leadership, sustainable competitive advantage, community involvement, philanthropy and corporate culture.
Since the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade started the contest in 2009, La Plata County has had more winners than any other rural county, said Roger Zalneraitis, the director of the La Plata County Economic Development Alliance.
The Herald asked leaders of each of these companies to explain their growth and the challenges they have faced.
Serious Texas Bar-B-QJustin James: Vice president
Employees: 30 full time and 70 part time, depending on the time of year.
Locations: Four in Colorado and two in New Mexico. Plans are underway for two more locations in Fort Collins.
What growth have you seen?
Since we opened the first wagon on the side of the road in 1998, Durango has really taken to our barbecue and continues to do so today. Both of these locations in Durango are our top performers.
What have been some of the challenges of operating here, and how have you overcome them?
A couple of the challenges we face operating in Durango is adapting to the changing seasons. Summer in Durango is twice as busy with the influx of visitors. So to conquer that, we employ more people and tell them to get ready to be busy and have a smile on their face while doing it.
We employ mostly college students, so as they come and go, we have to adapt to our changing employees, but I feel we pay well and treat them well, thus we do end up keeping most of our employees for long periods of time.
We also installed a drive-thru at our south Durango location in 2014 to take the pressure off of the locals that know what they want and have a limited time to get it versus the visitors who need to take their time to peruse the menu. That has really helped increase sales and ease locals’ frustrations.
What is your vision for your company?
Our vision is to continue to provide high-quality barbecue to our customers and get as many locations opened up as we can possibly manage while not sacrificing quality food and a quality fun place to work. We have numerous locations picked out on the Front Range of Colorado.
Think Network TechnologiesMelissa Glick: CEO
Employees: 12, with plans to hire four more.
What growth have you seen?
Our revenue growth has been steady over the past five years, with increases in the 10-30 percent range year after year. In late 2015, Think won two government contracts. Winning the New Mexico state contract for IT services has opened the door for a whole new revenue stream with the government.
What have been some of the challenges of operating here, and how have you overcome those?
Our biggest challenge is finding skilled talent. There’s a small pool of qualified IT professionals in the area, so we have to look at relocation. But, it’s not always that easy to find people that can justify the high cost of living.
Plus, the other challenges like finding employment for spouses, the housing shortage and securing affordable child care. There are a lot of moving parts, and it all has to align perfectly.
In the past year, we have tightened up the hiring process and expanded recruiting to focus on Albuquerque and Houston/Dallas. (We’re) finding that those markets had top talent wanting a career change of scenery who were also Durango-area lovers.
Once we do find top talent, we try to keep them very happy by offering things like competitive salaries, bonuses, flextime, a casual and fun environment, company-organized outdoor activities, generous paid time off and volunteer time off, bring your dog to work days, yummy snacks, and, most importantly, delicious craft brew in the fridge.
What is your vision for the company?
Our vision is threefold. One, our goal is to increase our revenue by 40 percent in 2016. We hope to do that by expanding our cloud and hosted services and by attracting new clientele who are looking for a more quality IT experience.
Two, continue to provide a great place to work for our employees.
Three, find interesting ways to get more involved in our community. Whether through volunteer time off, partnerships and collaborations, events or lunch and learns, we realize the importance of giving back.
VOORMIDan English: CEO
Timm Smith: Head of marketing
Employees: 13, plus contractors
What growth have you seen?
English: Since launching our very first product in the fall of 2013, we’ve seen exponential growth on every front. From the growth of our collection, to the number of retail partners distributing our product, to the launch of new technologies, it has certainly been a special experience to see the excitement behind this growing brand.
At this point, we’re proud to say that we’ve not only sold in to all 50 states, but 34 countries around the world as well.
What have been some of the challenges of operating here, and how have you overcome those?
English: Beyond the challenges of doing business in a remote mountain community (connectivity, shipping, etc.), some of our biggest challenges have come with the other side of the “domestic sourcing” sword.
Following the great migration to Asian sourcing, the U.S. textile and apparel base was left extremely fragmented. What manufacturing capacity and capital was out there was soon optimized for large-scale, single-product military contracts.
Our biggest challenge to growth continues to be the re-establishment of domestic capability and capacity for the real-time multiproduct challenges of consumer markets. In some cases, this means building a new set of factories from the ground up.
We believe our distributed manufacturing approach has been one of the key elements of our success.
What is your vision for the company?
English: From the beginning, it has been both our goal and vision to build a completely new kind of brand for the next generation of outdoor consumers.
A ‘micro-brew’ of apparel, rooted in the technical advancement of natural fibers and fit for the rugged realities of authentic mountain living.
We believe that this, in combination with our commitment to a more local approach to manufacturing, is how we can have the greatest impact for both our consumers and our community.
Editor’s note: These responses have been lightly edited for grammar and clarity.