This year's Best of Michigan Business awards from Corp! magazine are out, and two local companies are listed among the award recipients.
Grand Traverse Pie Co., headquartered in Traverse City, won in the Family Business category, while the Plascon Group won in the Small Business category.
Grand Traverse Pie Co. was chosen for its loyalty to Michigan, as well as its success across the Midwest, spreading out from the original Traverse City shop, opened in 1996, to 17 locations.
Listed among the reasons the company was chosen is that the pie company uses Michigan fruits, flour and sugar in its products. Founders Denise and Michael Busley are MSU graduates who started their northern Michigan business as an embodiment of the life they wanted to live.
"Our simple fantasy was to own and operate our own business in a vibrant beautiful family-oriented small town in the Midwest. Why not Traverse City? The dream of most Michiganders is to retire 'up north.' Why wait until retirement? Let's create a way of life for our family to work and contribute to this amazing community," says Michael Busley.
The Plascon Group has grown throughout lean times and good, as a manufacturer of flexible plastic packaging for industries as diverse as food service, institutional, pharmaceutical and bulk packaging, according to the magazine's listing.
CEO David Peterson is credited for growth through innovation, customer service, and creating strategic partnerships in niche markets for the company's products. The company employs 48 people and expanded in 2010, adding 18,000 square feet of space to its production facility.
Most impressive in a decade that saw many businesses gutted, Plascon has been profitable for 10 consecutive years, and has added new hires each year for the last five years.
The awards are in their fourth year, and are chosen by the readers of
Corp!, which is Michigan's largest business magazine. There are 11 categories overall, and the winners were listed in the March/April issue of the magazine.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Michael Busley, Grand Traverse Pie Co.
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