edible artisan

Food Entrepreneur Businesses Flourish with StartUP FIU Food

Sometimes all it takes for a food artisan to succeed is a leg up in practical matters

By Josie Gulliksen | December 01, 2019

Serving up sweet treats from Sweet Jalanes

Who helps aspiring food artisans with things like access to a commercial kitchen, a mentor in marketing, and advice in negotiating with lenders?

A new food incubator is removing barriers for deserving local makers, especially minorities, immigrants and others finding it hard to grow on their own. Known nationally for its consistently top-ranked School of Hospitality Management, Florida International University’s StartUP FIU Food Incubator program is helping support South Florida’s food entrepreneurs build and grow successful, long-lasting companies.

The idea for the program was born in 2015 after a conversation between Emily Gresham, FIU’s assistant vice president of Research Innovation and Economic Development, and Valeria Perez-Ferreiro, vice president for Citi Community Development. How could they empower small local food businesses and provide a commercial kitchen? A year later, the idea came to life, thanks to an initial $500,000 grant from Citi Foundation to plan and launch the initiative. By 2017, the program got a second round of funding from Citi Community Development, which has since been used to operate and help more than 20 South Florida-based entrepreneurs.

Sherronda Daye of Sweet Jalane's (Photo: Felipe Cuevas)

Getting Use from Kitchens

“From the beginning, we knew there was an opportunity in the local food-maker space,” says Gresham. “Within Miami’s immigrant and minority communities, there were a significant number of small businesses that could benefit greatly from just a little bit of support.”
The fully equipped FIU kitchens in the School of Hospitality were dark 80 percent of the time, so they started building the concept of StartUP FIU and convincing the University to offer up its resources to non-FIU students.

“We needed about $250,000 a year to buy some of the materials for the kitchen,” says Gresham. “This program’s core value is how we might use food as a pathway to help people build wealth and prosperity. All they need is a little bit of help.”

In 2016 FIU hired Anna Etienne as program director of StartUP FIU Food. Six months later, the program launched. “Anna is the heart and soul of the program,” says Gresham. “She finds the entrepreneurs and builds the network and has been invaluable to the success of the program.”

Making It Simple

For prospective businesses, applying for the program is a simple matter of filling out the form online, which includes only a few standard requirements. “I don’t want our entrepreneurs to go to sleep worrying about how to make ends meet, Gresham says. “Instead of worrying about the health and safety of their families, they should be worried about what store they can open next.”

Valeria Perez-Ferreiro agrees. The founding executive director of San Francisco’s La Cocina, one of the original food incubators to focus specifically on immigrant food businesses, Perez-Ferreiro says “many immigrants and people of color start small or informal food-based businesses to make ends meet.”

One of the program’s success stories is Sherronda Daye, owner of Sweet Jalane’s, “Sherronda is a single mom who lost her job and baked at home to comfort herself. After distributing her desserts at a function, people encouraged her to pursue a career as a baker,” says Gresham. “She eventually outgrew not only her home kitchen, but her church kitchen.” Daye, who received the Citi Promise Award and a $500 cash prize, is now working on her first brick-and-mortar location after two years of working with the faculty and staff of StartUP.
Perez-Ferreiro says they’ve seen how these programs help food entrepreneurs do much more than just survive. “They grow vibrant businesses that create wealth for their owners, a legacy for the next generation, and jobs for the community.”

{ StartUP FIU Food }

Are you a business owner who wants to grow but have limited resources? Candidates must commit to scaling their business and creating jobs within the community. The program also requires participants to:
• Be an owner or co-owner of a business
• Be in operation for two years or less
• Have a business plan
• Have a minimum of two team members

Visit StartUp FIU.