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Quick links: Tripling business | Colorado jobs overestimated in 2024 | Readers share where to eat | Restaurant tips and bills and more!
Gloria Mosqueda had a guiding goal when she started dreaming about opening a yogurt shop in Fort Morgan around a decade ago: give the kids there a place to hang out, because when she was growing up, there wasn’t one.
She floated the idea to her relatives at a family bonfire in 2016. Everyone loved it, but only one person bit. It turns out Gloria and her sister-in-law Blanca both have a Spidey sense for what makes a successful small business. Six years after their grand opening in 2016, the producers of HGTV’s “Home Town Takeover” series filmed the announcement that Fort Morgan had been chosen for its second season in the Mosquedas’ shop while Gloria was scooping a dollop of Rocky Road behind the counter.
But the Mosquedas had already been through a journey to transform their business in their town of about 11,500 on the Eastern Plains 80 miles northeast of Denver.
They had to learn that those giant silver yogurt machines that dispense several flavors of sugary goodness were too expensive for their budget and decide they’d become an ice cream shop instead. They found the perfect space but needed to figure out funding. They cold-called ice cream shops in Denver looking for advice but some people hung up on them while others told them to figure it out for themselves.
They figured it out enough to hold their grand opening in 2016. But their future was uncertain. “That’s when Merle came along,” Gloria said, referring to Merle Rhoades, who worked at the East Colorado Small Business Development Center.
Rhoades stepped in to help with “everything it says his organization does,” Mosqueda said.
He helped them decide to take out a home equity line of credit on their home to finance buying and renovating a building for their shop. He showed them ways to eliminate waste — like weighing every serving of ice cream — and teach their employees to do the same. He introduced them to classes on how to interact with the health department and create a business plan.
And in the years since, when the Mosquedas have had questions, Gloria said Rhoades has given them the kind of care and attention that representatives like him at 27 small business development offices scattered across the state gave more than 8,0o0 clients last year, according to a 2024 annual report.
Part of the office of economic development, these offices offer no-cost advice and low-cost trainings on how to do things like navigate zoning issues, create strategic plans and offer financial analyses to see if a business is economically viable. More than 21,500 people attended classes last year to learn about market research, grants and loans and starting a tech company or offering professional development for childcare providers. And the report says increased sales alone equaled roughly $81 million.
If it wasn’t for Rhoades, Gloria said, “I don’t know where (Mosqueda Delicacies) would be today, because he was the only person that I can say honestly cared to help us when we got our business started.”
Tripling business after a connection
Having an SBDC nearby turned into a networking opportunity that became crucial for a small business unsure of what to do next.
Rob Brazil, who raises Hereford cattle on a ranch in Pueblo County, was marketing his grass-fed butcher’s beef largely through word-of-mouth when his small business brand, Brazil Beef, “started to gain ground” in 2010.
But over the years he realized he needed social media and internet marketing to keep up with the competition. So he contacted his small business development center in Pueblo and they hooked him up with another SBDC beneficiary, website developer Kat Fox, to help him build his online presence and figure out Square electronic invoicing.
The website and social media Fox helped him build has been a boon for his business. “Before, through word-of-mouth, I’d get a new customer once every three months. Now I get an inquiry around once a week and a new customer every couple of weeks,” he said. Today, he and Fox work together on a client-to-client basis.
SBDC, funded partly by the federal government, has seen small business employment growth in Colorado outpace the national average and generate billions in international trade. But as the Trump administration continues to ramp up its trade war, Colorado’s small businesses may be the hardest hit.
In March, small businesses statewide scrambled to make sense of President Donald Trump’s ever-changing tariffs for Canada and Mexico. Those were delayed until April but if implemented, along with his 20% tariff on Chinese imports, the new tariffs would add $1.4 billion to Colorado importers a year, according to a report by economic research firm Trade Partnership Worldwide.
But Brazil says, for him at least, 2025 has been good for the price of his beef, which he’s been able to increase by 17%.
If you want to learn about a family in Craig who has benefited hugely from both OEDIT and the small business development center, look for a story about High Altitude Geothermal over at The Colorado Sun later this spring.
Section by Tracy Ross | Reporter
➔ Find your own local Small Business Development Center >> Map
Tracy Ross covers the state’s rural economy, business and other matters. If you have story ideas, tips or feedback for her, shoot Tracy an email at tracy@coloradosun.com
Colorado added fewer jobs in 2024 than expected
Earlier this week, the state Department of Labor and Employment shared revisions to employment data for last year, which resulted in Colorado’s unemployment rate being higher every month in 2024 than initially reported. Such revisions happen regularly, as in 2023, when new data or additional business surveys are completed.
But in the revisions, the state also added fewer jobs than originally believed. In the annual Colorado Business Economic Outlook in December, economists had estimated 2024 job growth would end up being around 46,800 new jobs, up 1.6% from the prior year.
The latest jobs report revised 2024 results, after new data came in from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics report. Job growth last year wound up at 1.1%, or 33,200 jobs. That was also lower than the rate of job growth in the U.S., which came in at 1.3%.
Some of this had been expected, especially after the labor department warned in August of a possible downward revision of 72,700 jobs for Colorado, said Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the Business Research Division at the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business.
“We didn’t exactly expect it to be to that magnitude so I think where it came in was a reasonable expectation,” Lewandowski said. “It’s aligning with what we’re seeing in terms of Colorado’s GDP growth and a slightly slower retail sales growth and moderate net migration to the state. I think it’s helping with the alignment of (other) economic data.”
In January, the state continued to add jobs, with employment increasing by 3,900. Industries that added the most jobs were in education and health services and professional and business services. The construction and leisure and hospitality saw declines.
“That is the good news,” said Gary Horvath, a Broomfield economist at Cbre.co, in an email. “At the same time, there are clouds on the horizon! The benchmark revisions were reported for the years 2020 to 2024. The changes for 2023 and 2024 were more significant. They show that Colorado is experiencing a slowdown in the labor market. Employment for 2024 increased by 33,500. A revised outlook for 2025 shows an increase in employment of 31,000.”
February job data will be out Friday so we’ll explore more about what is happening to Colorado’s economy in a future story.
Section by Tamara Chuang | Business/Technology Reporter
➔ ICYMI: Colorado’s unemployment rate came in lower than expected every month last year. Why did that happen? >> Read story
Take the reader poll: Economic chaos or no?
With revisions to last year’s economic data on job growth and unemployment rates finally out, do you feel any different? Take this week’s reader poll to help give us a sense of what Coloradans are feeling.
>> Take it: cosun.co/WWchaos (thanks!)
Sun economy stories you may have missed
➔ Denver to build women’s soccer stadium, 14-acre entertainment area at redeveloped Santa Fe Yards. The 14,500-seat stadium will open in 2028 as the anchor of Santa Fe Yards just off I-25 >> Read story
➔ Colorado would become second state to limit when workers can be fired under union-backed ballot measure. Initiative 43 would prohibit companies with more than eight employees from firing or suspending a worker without so-called just cause >> Read story
➔ Colorado lawmakers expanded a property tax relief program. Few applied, and now it’s on the chopping block. State budget writers plan to abandon a key piece of the legislature’s property tax relief efforts, saying it isn’t being used enough to justify its cost >> Read story
➔ A remote southwestern Colorado town has carved itself into a snowboarder’s paradise. Silverton Mountain was built by snowboarders nearly 25 years ago and the rowdy ski hill’s stable of guides have proven their boards are efficient guiding tools, defying decades of ski-only history. >> Read story
➔ Food banks, kids’ therapy and diapers: What Colorado lawmakers have cut from the state budget so far. Most of the cuts have barely made a dent in the state’s $1.2 billion budget gap >> Read story
➔ Funding cuts to CU-Anschutz could erase years of medical research contributed by patients, advocates fear. Sen. John Hickenlooper toured a lab and spoke with researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to learn about the impacts of potential NIH funding cuts >> Read story
Readers’ tips on where and what to eat
While restaurants are still in the news because of proposed bills making their way through the state legislature, we took a little break with the recent What’s Working reader poll to ask something more tasty: What’s your favorite dish, restaurant or food experience?
With 106 responses, suggestions came in from all around the state. There were too many to include, but here are a handful, with links:
Thanks for that last one David O’Boyle in Denver, as well as to all who participated in the reader poll.
➔ ICYMI: Are more restaurants closing or opening in Denver? Here’s what the data says. Here are the sources, what they say and what they mean >> Read story
We answer to you — not a billionaire The Colorado Sun, independent local news worth supporting!
Other working bits
➔ Report: Denver restaurants had fewer diners than other cities. Point-of-sale tech provider Toast Inc. found Denver restaurants had the steepest decline in transactions compared with other cities last year. Denver transactions fell 9% — the worst of 20 metro areas nationwide. The second worst was Tampa, Florida. Cities with the largest increases were Philadelphia and Chicago, both up 3%. The data, collected between Oct. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024, tracked “same store” sales at restaurants using Toast’s technology. That means new restaurants or restaurants that closed or stopped using Toast during the period weren’t counted. >> View Toast’s report
➔ Speaking of tips: A session on Colorado laws during a restaurant industry conference last week taught me this: There are a lot of rules and regulations for restaurants, but at places with a tip pool where workers share tips, restaurants must notify customers, thanks to a 2019 law. The Colorado Restaurant Association also has this reminder for restaurants about compliance. Tips can only be shared if the restaurant pays all staffers minimum wage.
➔ Restaurant industry bills keep moving through legislature. The tipped wage bill reported on last week? It passed the House on its third reading Wednesday and now moves to the state Senate. The bill, in its current form, would leave the decision to local governments on whether employers can take a bigger tip credit than the current $3.02 to offset how much they pay tipped workers. In areas with a higher tip credit, tipped workers would have to use more of their tips to cover the difference.
➔ Missed the unemployment for federal workers webinar? You can stream it here on YouTube, courtesy of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. The agency also has a special website for federal workers right here. >> Watch
Got some economic news or business bits Coloradans should know? Tell us: cosun.co/heyww
Thanks for sticking with us for this week’s report. As always, share your 2 cents on how the economy is keeping you down or helping you up at cosun.co/heyww. ~ tamara & tracy
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What’s Working is a Colorado Sun column about surviving in today’s economy. Email tamara@coloradosun.com with stories, tips or questions. Read the archive, ask a question at cosun.co/heyww and don’t miss the next one by signing up at coloradosun.com/getww.
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