The owner of a board game cafe opening in downtown Troy this fall won the top prize at a business competition put on by the Capital Region Chamber.

Charlotte Guyton, the owner of Bard & Baker Board Game Cafe, was awarded $1,500 and a one-year chamber membership. She was among 27 entrepreneurs who completed the chamber's 60-hour Entrepreneur Boot Camp this spring, and several others also received prizes.

"There were so many entrepreneurs with interesting concepts, and I'm honored and grateful to have won," Guyton said.

Guyton went "above and beyond" and is "a role model for how the class should work," said Janet Tanguay, the chamber's director of entrepreneurship. She said Guyton met nearly every panelist or speaker, developed a financial plan that solicited interest from several lenders and wrote personalized thank-you notes to each panelist and timekeeper with responses to questions they had asked. Guyton also has experience in the hospitality industry: most recently, she worked as the general manager of restaurants at Clark House Hospitality in Troy and managed operations at Lucas Confectionery, Peck's Arcade and several other restaurants.

"She set a new standard," said Tanguay, who has been involved with the program for 25 semesters.

Participating in family game night growing up inspired Guyton to open her own board game cafe. The laughter, camaraderie and memories stuck with her.

"We wanted to give back to the community and give people the chance to unplug and play," she said.

Bard & Baker is slated to open in September in a "highly visible location" in downtown Troy, Guyton said. It will include more than 350 game titles, and she plans to use the prize money from the chamber program to further add to the cafe's game library. Sandwiches, baked goods and snacks will be served, along with tea lattes, bubble tea, wine, cocktails and beer. Bryan Connor, who Guyton worked with at Clark House, will be the kitchen manager.

The chamber's entrepreneurship program appealed to Guyton because of the range of topics covered, network opportunities and the chance to ask questions and get feedback. The 10-week course teaches entrepreneurs the basics of launching and growing a business through classroom and one-on-one training. Panelists and speakers cover topics like taxes and Internal Revenue Service guidelines, trademarking patents and other legal issues, sales, accounting and marketing and social media.

"I left every class overwhelmed by the panelists' dedication and the information being shared," Guyton said. "I was also moved by the amount of people who donated their time."

She used the information and feedback she gleaned to tweak and add to a loan application she submitted to the New York Business Development Corporation, which was approved Friday.

"We're really excited," she said.

miszler@timesunion.com • 518-454-5018 • @madisoniszler