Financing Our Foodshed (7 page)
Read Financing Our Foodshed Online
Authors: Carol Peppe Hewitt
Jackie first heard about Slow Money NC from a mutual friend, Don Miller, at the NC Rural Center. He knew she was looking for funding for her bakery, and he thought we might be able to help.
But when Jackie initially called me, it was the early days of our Slow Money project, and she was looking for $40,000 to start her business. At the time, that was way out of our league. Forty thousand was ten times as much as any
single
Slow Money loan that had been made at that time. And logistics were a problem. An important part of Slow Money NC’s mission is matching lenders and borrowers who are in the same town, or at least close by. That way, they can stay connected. And I knew of only one person who had expressed an interest in making a Slow Money loan in Wake County, where Stephanie’s business was located — and that was for only about $1,000. I explained that I was sorry, but I didn’t think we could be of much help.
About a year later, she contacted me again. She had tracked down that $40,000 by getting a loan from the NC Support Center. She was marketing her wares via a website and was building up a wholesale
customer base. She was selling her cakes to Whole Foods and her blonde brownies to Ben & Jerry’s, and she had built a strong following of other loyal customers as well. She hoped to move into her own retail space in the near future.
And her website laid out her continued commitment to local food:
All of our “Heavenly Baked Goods” are made from the finest and freshest ingredients, like whole local eggs and pure vanilla extract, free of preservatives, hydrogenated oils, fillers and shortcut ingredients. Instead, ingredients are purchased as much as possible from local farmers.
It was fun to see how well she was doing. She’d found her niche and she was cookin’.
Now she had another challenge:
Another year has passed and with the publicity of being on the radio, NBC and local newspapers, we now have a desperate need for a 60-quart floor mixer. This larger mixer will help us maximize the capacity of our commercial convection oven, increase our baked goods output and decrease our labor time.
But even the used ones cost several thousand dollars.
This time, I hoped we could help. Jackie prays hard, and it seems to work. Within a week, I was speaking to someone from Raleigh who already knew Jackie and was happy to make her an affordable short-term loan. So Jackie started looking in earnest for a good, used commercial mixer.
And I went about my life, dealing with my daughter, Meg, who needed to be taken to a clinic in Florida for a week of treatments for an old knee injury that had flared up.
I was navigating Miami traffic when a call came in from Jackie. She was excited about a mixer she had found online. It was a Hobart (the best brand, she said) and it was an even bigger model (80-quarts), which was even better. It sounded like it was in good shape; it was
only four years old and had recently been serviced. A couple that had owned a pizza shop and just retired wanted to sell the mixer and all the attachments for $4,600. She had talked to them and offered them a bit less. They said they’d think about it and send her some pictures.
She called for my advice. This was bigger than the 60-quart size she thought she’d buy, which meant it was somewhat more expensive. But it was an excellent price for such a big mixer, and she could definitely use the extra capacity. However, the mixer was so far away that she couldn’t go to see it before buying it, and the shipping would be extremely costly. What did I think?
“Where is it?” I queried. “It’s in Miami,” she said. You’re kidding, I thought to myself. “Really?” I replied. “I’m in Miami!”
I like coincidences. Because I don’t think that’s what they are, actually. I think they are deliberately created by some collection of creative entities with great imaginations who enjoy keeping our lives interesting.
And so began the Heavenly Scavenger Hunt. First, I called Dominick, owner of the mixer and now-defunct Dominick’s Pizza. He and his wife, Marcella, had closed their shop the day before and were putting everything in storage, including the mixer. But I could come see it anytime.
I gave Meg, who was spending the afternoon on a couch with her knee propped up, the task of seeing if we could tow this mixer home. She called the local VW dealership and got their advice, and then U-Haul. No problem. For $233, we could get a hitch installed on her Jetta TDI, and for another $233, we could rent a small trailer.
But it was already Friday, and if Jackie decided to buy this mixer, it would need to be paid for. I certainly didn’t have $4,500 with me. And it was getting late. I use credit cards when I travel, but that amount of cash? No way. What about a wire transfer? I called my small-town bank, where everybody knows me, and asked if I could get money from my bank account transferred to Dominick’s bank
account. Jackie could repay me later. “Sure,” was the answer, “if you come here in person.”
I told Brystanna, who not only manages the bank but also took a class in sustainability with me at our local community college, about my dilemma. She thought for a minute. “We just bought a bank in Florida. Maybe it’s near you.” She took another minute to look it up. “Here it is. It’s in Miami Beach.”
“Really? I’m in Miami Beach!” This was getting weird. I took the address, and Meg and I headed out to meet Dominick and Marcella at their storage facility about 30 minutes north of the city.
They were delightful and reminded me of my own Italian-American family. I got a quick rundown on their life story — how having a pizza shop for years meant never a day off, and how they were ready to take a break.
The mixer looked fine to me. They assured me it was in good shape, and they had the service records showing its maintenance history. Plus, they would include a gallon of the special oil the mixer used and all the various bits and pieces, attachments, etc. In the end, they were happy with a handshake, a $100 cash deposit, and the promise of a wire transfer from Jackie the next day.
Dominick even handled the shipping. Someone came the very next day, packed it up, and sent it on its way to Jackie’s kitchen in Holly Springs, NC. A much better idea than me hauling it home!
It was all so easy that I didn’t even need to use my local bank connection.
We stood around at the storage shed a while longer, scheming about how Dominick and Marcella might get a food truck one day so they could travel and only run a restaurant when they felt like it. And they promised to come by and visit when they passed through NC. I was sorry to say goodbye, and I hope we meet again.
A few days later, Jackie emailed to say her mixer had arrived. Turns out, it is an older Hobart made of all metal parts, and preferable to the new ones that are now made with some plastic parts.
She planned to send it off to be cleaned and refurbished so she could put it in the window when she got her retail location. She was thrilled with her new purchase.
A few months later, I needed a cake to celebrate the 80th firing of our pottery’s salt kiln. My husband, potter Mark Hewitt, and I have run a pottery business in Pittsboro for the last 30 years, and I wanted something special. Remembering Jackie and her edible image technique, I sent her a picture of several large pots on a lawn.
On the afternoon of our 80th Firing Celebration, she arrived with a huge sheet cake. The icing matched the photograph perfectly. I know Jackie sources local products whenever she can, but I’m not sure about the ingredients in green, blue, and brown frosting. Nonetheless, the cake was delicious and tasted homemade (a rarity with sheet cakes!). She also brought along several pecan pies, which were quickly devoured.
Credit: Bett Wilson Foley
I spoke with Jackie the other day to find out how that mixer was doing and was pleased to hear that it came back looking and working like new. And her dream of opening a retail location has come true.
After operating out of her home for four years, Sweet Cheeks Bakery has opened in downtown Apex, NC. “We’re going to try our best to bring back the traditional bakery, with baked goods as good or better than homemade,” Jackie promises. “I’m looking forward to bringing each customer a memorable moment: when they remember the taste of what their grandmother used to make!”
That sounds good to me.
and
Delicious
When Abigail Wilson started on a gluten-free diet, getting delicious, fresh “breads, sweets, and savories” was virtually impossible. So she made her own — and quickly recognized a hole in the local food economy.
She wrote to us at Slow Money NC:
Some may call it a trend, others a growing awareness, but in any case, a dramatic change in our approach to food has been sweeping the nation and the globe... Chatham County is no exception. In addition, food allergies and sensitivities are getting more and more attention. Having gone gluten-free myself two years ago, I’ve become aware of the fact that I am not alone. In response to a growing need for fresh, high-quality, gluten-free products, and as an extension of my local-foods philosophies, I want to start a gluten-free bakery.
She was right. At the time, the gluten-free folks in our town had no locally made options. A gluten-free bakery that could not only provide a wide variety of bread, sweets, and savories, but was also willing to work with customers to try to meet their special dietary needs, would be a great addition to our local food options. Although Abi would not be able to locally source all of her ingredients, she had
found quite a few, and she shared the Slow Money mission to support our local, sustainable farms.
There’s a growing desire to know where our food comes from. Abilicious Bakery will slip into this niche, buying ingredients like eggs, milk, and honey from local farmers. A potential partnership with Okfuskee Farm and Box Turtle Bakery gives me the opportunity to use locally grown and milled, certified gluten-free grains.
I knew that baking was only
one
of Abi’s talents. She had grown up here in Pittsboro, NC, and recently graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in studio art. She had set up a small business for her art practice by building her own website, creating business cards, starting a shop on
Etsy.com
, and then finding ways to promote her art in galleries and events in the Chapel Hill area. I have some of her artwork in my home.
In order to open the bakery, she had also figured out how to develop a detailed profit-and-loss sheet as well as a sales forecast and cost generator “so that I can know exactly where my money is going, and how it’s coming back.” I was not surprised. Abi is a capable and talented young woman.
In fact, I’ve known Abi since she was a toddler. She first heard about the Slow Money project at our kitchen table. It was just getting started, and I was sharing my enthusiasm for how this concept could impact the local food movement. That conversation later became more relevant to her when she realized Slow Money could be the help she needed to start a gluten-free bakery. As she explained to me, with empathy:
There are many foods that celiacs crave, like the convenience of a sandwich that doesn’t feel like a brick, the moist flavor of a blueberry muffin, the classic chocolate chip cookie. Some of these products are available in health food stores, but they suffer from the same problems as mainstream food products
shipped from across the country! My goal is to provide baked goods that even wheat-lovers will love, using quality ingredients in a welcoming, accountable kitchen where the goodies are delivered fresh...I can’t wait to see the smiles on their faces!
Aware that everyone has different schedules and needs, Abi wanted her bakery to reach out to the public in a variety of ways. Retail would form the majority of her customer base, starting with a CSB program (Community Supported Bakery). The CSB would allow members to tailor their weekly pick-up according to the type and quantity of baked goods they desired. That flexibility, she felt, would be key in attracting more customers. Abi also signed up for two local farmers markets, and she took on special orders and some catering as well.
To finance her new business, Abi tapped into her own savings, got some help from family, and estimated that she would need another $5,000 to $7,000, depending on the availability of good used equipment.