Last week, Local First Milwaukee wrapped up a contest for area businesses who submitted plans on how they shifted their business spending to support other local businesses through a contest called Grow Local Business.

The campaign, which ran from February through April, offered advice on how to boost the local economy by hiring talent and sourcing local business products. "The Grow Local Business initiative was our first campaign of this kind – and we’re thankful for the participation of over 30 local businesses," said Robert Wendt, President at Cultivate Communications and member of Local First Milwaukee. 

Three Milwaukee businesses won almost $5,000 in prizes for participating. 

Simmer Truck, a local food truck serving up its fare street-side and at events across the city, came in first place winning an ad campaign with OnMilwaukee.com and an Okanjo storefront. Simmer is also expanding to a storefront in Downtown Milwaukee, which we shared with you last week.

Second prize went to Kathy's 2nd Chance Plants, a Greenfield-based business that focuses on vegetables, plants, floral arrangements and more. Kathy's 2nd Chance Plants won marketing services from Jackie Steinmetz Consulting, a Microsoft prize pack from Attivo Technologies and an ad campaign on UrbanMilwaukee.com. 

Coming in third was Cash Coupon: The Community Choice, a local online coupon business that specializes in not just saving you money, but also making you money with a cash back program. Cash Coupon's prize pack included moving boxes from Brew City Boxes and a lighting system evaluation from Logical Green Solutions. 

Local First Milwaukee will kick off three more campaigns this year including Move Your Money -- which will encourage customers to switch to local banks, Eat Local -- focusing on different ways and places to eat locally, and Buy Local -- to promote purchasing local items for the holidays.