A consumer survey conducted by Harris Interactive placed a couple of companies with strong Ohio ties at the top of their categories.

The 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend survey named Enon-based Speedway, which operates nearly 1,500 convenience stores in Ohio and six other Midwestern states, as the highest-ranked convenience store brand in the nation. Here’s what the Harris folks had to say about Speedway convenience stores:

“As Americans speed through their busy days, many shop at convenience stores, with some that are stand-alone stores and others which are part of retail gas stations. In the inaugural year for the Convenience Store Brand of the Year, Speedway takes the top spot … . Speedway’s top scores for quality and purchase consideration led to its highest ranking in this category.”

The study was conducted online during the first three weeks of February and analyzed the responses of over 38,500 consumers on key measures of brand health, including how well the public knows a brand, how positively they think of the brand and their consideration to do business with a brand.

Tony Kenney, president of Speedway LLC, said employees in his company’s stores “earned this award by creating and sustaining trust in our customers.”

The same Harris Poll EquiTrend survey named Honda — which has its American headquarters and extensive operations in central and west-central Ohio — as “America’s Favorite Full-Line Automaker,” replacing last year’s top-ranked automaker, Ford.

• The concept of turning to the public for help with startup costs appears to be growing. Especially for breweries.

The Vitruvian Brew Company in Yellow Springs announced last week it is seeking “crowdfunding.” The microbrewery, which is still in development in the Millworks at 305 Walnut St. in Yellow Springs, has launched an effort (www.indiegogo.com/vbc) on the IndieGoGo site to help defray the setup expenses.

“Financing is tough,” Vitruvian founder and brewer Shane Creepingbear said. Creepingbear raised a majority of his necessary capital by selling shares in his microbrewery for $2,500, but at that price, shares “were somewhat unattainable to the majority of my friends,” he said. Creepingbear said he has not found banks that are interested in loaning what they consider small amounts of $30,000 to $50,000.

“Beyond that, its not exactly appealing to be in debt right out of the gates,” he said. “There are a lot of success stories right now for people using crowdfunding options for their start-ups, everything from films and video games to education and travel. Its a great idea: draw on small contributions from a wide net community.”

Contribution levels on the Vitruvian IndieGoGo solicitation site range from $25 to $1,000, with a goal of $30,000.

Vitruvian is the second local brewery to seek help for startup costs. The proposed Fifth Street Brewpub in Dayton, which will be cooperatively owned, had a successful launch to efforts to solicit smaller-scale “charter member” ownership shares earlier this month.