Meet Sandra Mathis, Owner and Founder of Grace Kelli Cupcakes 
Sandra always loved to bake. She grew up in Waycross, North Carolina where she shadowned her grandmother in the kitchen and learned how to put a Southern spin on various recipes. Sandra brought that passion to NYC where she opened Grace Kelli Cupcakes (GKC), specializing in baked goods and Southern-style meals. Sandra’s ambition was evident in the many hours she devoted to perfecting her recipes and chocolate-dipped treats. 

How did COVID impact Sandra’s business? 
When the pandemic forced Sandra to shut down, GKC’s future was uncertain. New orders dropped to zero. Sandra worried how she would earn enough money to support her family. 

How did TAP help Sandra and Grace Kelli Cupcakes? 
Immediately, TAP consultants Rachel Dugoff and Mary Beth Minton helped Sandra apply for small business loans and grants to offset lost revenue; they then worked with GKC over a four-week period to stabilize and adapt her business. During that time, Rachel and Mary Beth helped Sandra brainstorm innovative product ideas suited to the new consumer landscape. They encouraged Sandra to network with other minority-owned businesses and expand GKC’s reach through an enhanced social media presence. Sandra’s passionate commitment combined with TAP’s professional expertise and empathetic support allowed GKC to stay afloat and plan for a successful future. 

Source: 1 Yelp Local Economic Impact Report (Sept 2020)

The couple are the founders of Cornbread 26 Food Co, a catering company that aims to elevate comfort food classics with creativity and unique touches. They began with a few cornbread recipes, including their now famous Cornbread Madeleines, and evolved to offer specialities like lobster waffle nachos and a variety of crostini. With no formal training, Craig learned the trade through cookbooks, TV shows and instructional videos, and his determination landed him as a finalist on the very first season of Master Chef (USA). Claude always loved cooking and developing new recipes, and his career as a NYC Jazz performer often inspires his creations.
 
How did Covid impact Cornbread 26?
Craig and Claude, like many in the food services industry, watched their business come to a complete standstill when the Covid 19 pandemic hit the New York area. Suddenly they had no events to cater and were left wondering how they would make ends meet.
 
How did TAP help?
TAP consultants, Victoria Drozdov and Susan Berman quickly began brainstorming with Cornbread 26. Victoria offered her deep knowledge of operations and strategy. Susan contributed her many years of experience as a successful entrepreneur and an editor at Food and Wine magazine. The consultants encouraged Craig and Claude to reach out to old customers and to find new ones by improving their online presence. They ran through pricing exercises to determine which business segments were most profitable, and gave them suggestions for new product offerings and packaging concepts.

Where are they now?
Cornbread 26 has received orders from Apple Stores and one customer ordered 3,900 Cornbread Madeleines. They have been able to resume catering small parties and weddings and have positioned themselves to service corporate lunches when employees return to the workplace.
 
It is clear that Craig and Claude’s hard work and determination, combined with high quality guidance from TAP, will continue to fuel their recovery and future success.

As a professional dancer, Justin loved his craft and dreamed of sharing it with others. In 2016, he made this dream a reality when he founded The Dance Conservatory in Westchester. His background in physical therapy and injury prevention training helped him cultivate not only ballerinas in their prime, but lifelong dancers.

How Did COVID Impact Justin’s Business?
Shutdowns forced a hiatus from in-person classes, devastating to a studio that celebrates its communal passion for dance. But the pandemic also offered new opportunities for virtual classes and a population of young customers who were home from school and looking for activities.

How Did TAP Help?
Two TAP consultants, Robbie Oxnard Bent and Souha Alameddine, quickly dove in and worked with Justin to expand enrollment and reduce spending. They leveraged TAP’s customer segmentation tool to help him understand who his clients were and what financial restrictions they had. TAP then advised Justin to adopt a more flexible pricing strategy. Robbie and Souha also urged him to clearly communicate the steps he was taking to make his studio COVID-safe, so that dancers could feel comfortable returning to class. To help reduce expenses, TAP updated Justin’s accounting system and worked with him to devise a negotiation strategy so he could talk to his landlord about lowering his lease payments.

Where is He Now?
With better communication and a reworked pricing system, Justin was able to top 2019’s pre-pandemic enrollment numbers. He taped out seven by seven-foot squares on his studio floor and provided individual bars so every (masked) dancer could stay within their space. Students actually appreciated the new small class sizes, as they received more attention from teachers. Justin used his website, social media, and email to communicate the Conservatory’s additional safety precautions. He reassured parents and students that, while he’d keep offering virtual options, they could safely return to the studio in person — and once they were in the door, they kept coming.

Stylish Spoon, a modern bakery founded by mom Ilana Eck, is geared toward professional women and busy parents looking for easy and healthy grab-and-go breakfast and snacks. Ilana's best-selling OatMEAL Cup, sold online directly to consumers, was inspired by her own need for a one-handed breakfast that she could enjoy and feel good about while nursing her newborn.

How Did COVID Impact Ilana’s Business?
The pandemic swiftly brought an end to in-person sampling and marketing events, Ilana’s primary marketing tool.  She also lost a lucrative contract with a NYC grocery store chain.

How Did TAP Help?
TAP consultants Adelma Hand and Robbie Oxnard Bent provided Ilana with marketing and financial resources typically available only to Fortune 500 companies. Their sales analysis resulted in a shift to focus on her popular, high-margin OatMEAL Cups. Talking to consumers in focus groups inspired a rebranding strategy; not only did this new approach help Ilana target the right consumers, but it also informed a new virtual marketing strategy with a targeted referral program, perfect for her highly loyal consumer base. In addition, the TAP consultants created an inventory tracking tool to help Ilana time her package purchasing decisions, and they customized TAP’s PPP loan tracking tool to help her maximize loan forgiveness.

Where is She Now?
Ilana was able to cut costs and is thrilled to be reporting her first positive margin. TAP's recommendations for shifts in marketing, operations and finance have helped Stylish Spoon not merely weather the pandemic, but flourish.

Senegal-born entrepreneur Mama Faye opened her Larchmont, NY fashion and cosmetics boutique, Taaru Majeure, just before COVID hit. After working for twenty-three years in retail management for powerhouse brands like Tom Ford and Estee Lauder, she decided to launch a solo endeavor. Beyond her elegant accessories and quality cosmetics, Mama Faye has distinguished her brand by developing her own ethical skincare line with fair trade organic ingredients sourced from Senegal.

How Did COVID Impact Mama Faye’s Business?
The shut-down was an early blow to Taaru Majeure, which did not yet have an online presence. Mama Faye was burdened by fixed expenses for her storefront, and needed to quickly pivot to cover them. While the economic environment was tumultuous, social support for minority-owned businesses grew with the Black Lives Matter movement. Mama Faye had a pool of prospective customers, but needed to figure out how to reach them.

How Did TAP Help?
TAP consultants Janice Hassenfeld and Justine Smith developed recommendations for a new e-commerce site including a “shop by skin type” tool, product review section, ingredient specifications, and other visual aids. The pair also worked with Mama Faye on her brand messaging, encouraging her to leverage her dynamic personality and celebrate Taaru Majeure as a black-owned business on social media. In addition, TAP helped stabilize Mama Faye’s financials by offering information on loan and grant support, cash flow tools, and rent negotiation.

Where is She Now?
The Larchmont storefront is now open, stocked, and bustling with holiday shoppers. Motivated by TAP’s support, Mama Faye has exceeded her monthly sales goals since August. With Taaru Majeure’s in-person business booming, she is also applying what she’s learned from TAP to help her social media and e-commerce venues thrive

Born in Venezuela and raised in Colombia, Yolfer Carvajal was inspired by his aunt’s traditional cooking. Wanting to pursue his dream of becoming a chef, he attended French-Jewish culinary school, resulting in a cooking style that was an eclectic fusion of his Venezuelan heritage and French inspiration. With the help of his brother Donny leading marketing and logistics, and sister Dahyanna commanding the finances, Yolfer opened Pabade Wholesale Bakery in 2016 and expanded to a cafe in East Harlem in 2019. He refers to his products as “global pastries baked in el barrio”. 

How did Covid impact Pabade? 
When Covid forced businesses to shut down earlier this year, the food industry was particularly hard hit. Pabade lost all of its foot traffic, and wholesale orders for their products disappeared. 

How did TAP help? 
TAP consultants Amy Lai, a CFA with financial expertise, and Sabrina Silva, a marketing and sales executive with knowledge of the food services industry, quickly helped Dahyanna prepare for a conversation with the landlord about deferring lease payments and encouraged her to access additional government support for small businesses. They suggested offering a lunch menu, and researched several food delivery services so that Pabade’s delicious products were accessible to those not able to come into the store. TAP helped the siblings review all of the new safety requirements for reopening and provided options for cleaning common areas. The consultants also showed them ways to manage expenses going forward.

Where are they now? 
Pabade is back open for business and looking towards the future. Their delivery business is growing, and they are working on bolder long term marketing strategies. The help that TAP has given them and other small businesses during the Covid pandemic expands beyond strategy and analysis. They’ve offered encouragement and direction when small business owners feel overwhelmed and helpless. With TAP’s assistance, Yolfer, Donny and Dahyanna have regained the confidence to move forward and rebuild their business to be successful now and in the post-Covid world.

HudCo was born to fill a need. While co-working spaces are a common site in cities, finding the right place in the suburbs is not as easy. More than just a shared workspace, HudCo is also a shared wellness space and a space committed to creating community in the river towns of Westchester County.

HudCo’s membership runs from accountants to herbalists, from florists to business strategists, from landscape architects to leadership coaches. What makes HudCo unique is not just the diversity of its membership, nor that it offers a range of business memberships to meet individual needs. HudCo has taken the co-working model further by offering a wellness membership, which provides space for those in the business of helping others live their healthiest lives. Yes, that means you can take your Pilates class at your co-working space.  In addition, HudCo offers a rich array of programming such as speakers on diverse topics, movement workshops, and author talks. In other words, there is a place for everyone at HudCo.

HudCo was founded in January 2016 by three  entrepreneurs who wanted a co-working space. Friends told friends and soon thereafter the seven invested founders leased more space. In time, the opportunity arose to lease even more space in the same light-filled building, with its exquisite views of the Hudson. The founders were in a quandary. As creative types (including an architect and designer), they understand space and environment.  They all liked the concept of more space but weren’t sure how they would finance it. As entrepreneurs, they had developed a business plan, but they weren’t completely comfortable with their financial projections. They also realized that as partners, their objectives (and contributions) had diverged.

Two HudCo founders met TAP at a speed-consulting workshop run by the Armonk Chamber of Commerce.  They were there for their own individual businesses but quickly determined that TAP might be able to help HudCo as well.  And we were --in two significant ways. The first big piece was financial, and TAP helped break it down into smaller pieces. We discussed capital needs, looked at structuring options, and identified third party lenders. We also created a forecast model for HudCo that would give them an easy way to play with their current and future growth assumptions.

The second major piece was the business relationships among the partners. The partners gave TAP the opportunity to meet with each partner individually to better understand what each really wanted. This allowed TAP to step into the role of an honest broker and show the partners where there were synergies in their thinking and where there were gaps. We facilitated a discussion on equitable strategies for ownership and reviewed how    partnership documents could accurately reflect each partner’s role and profit participation. We also provided an action plan to move the business forward on all fronts.

Now positioned for growth and the future, HudCo can focus on its mission “to integrate work, life, and being well. “

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