Microloans, Craft Brews & Sweet Treats
A profile of URA Microloan recipients Casey Renee and Dennis Guy
A large percentage of small businesses fail. But if you can’t even get in the game you have no chance to succeed.
At the 2018 Inclusive Innovation Kick-Off last year, Mayor Bill Peduto announced the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) new Micro Enterprise Loan Fund. The goal was to help very small, early stage businesses to start or grow in the city. With an interest rate of 2% and no credit score requirements, the new loan program, which ranges from $5K — $20K, does away with the traditional barriers that new entrepreneurs often face.
The URA Microloan program has continued to beat expectations, issuing eighteen loans, seventeen of which were for women or minority-led businesses, in the last eight months. Casey Renee recently received a microloan from the URA, enabling her to commit full-time to her small business. Dennis Guy also closed on his microloan in January which has enabled his company to grow in ways that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Here’s a look at their businesses.
Confections by Casey Renee
Casey moved back to Pittsburgh three years ago for a job as the head pastry chef at the Ace Hotel. Before that she was living in New York working at Michelin star restaurants under the guidance of James Beard Award-winning chefs.
Soon after her arrival at the Ace she noticed that while Pittsburgh has a growing food scene, most restaurants can’t afford to have an in-house pastry chef. As she thought about her career she realized there were not many opportunities to move forward in Pittsburgh and she considered how challenging it would be to sustain herself as a pastry chef in this city. “People don’t think good pastries matter. I have had to convince people to take pastries seriously,” explained Casey.
In 2018, she decided to start a catering business. She’d already been making wedding cakes on the side for two years and birthday cakes for four years. Confections by Casey Renee (Confections, for short) will provide not only custom wedding and birthday cakes but Casey will also make pastries that restaurants can sell. This will give restaurants the opportunity to serve specialty pastries without breaking the bank to pay a full-time pastry chef. It also gives pastry chefs more creative freedom and the opportunity to make more money than they would at a restaurant.
“They’re [the URA] the only reason why I can take this risk right now”
Starting a business is difficult though and coming up with a solid idea is only the first step. Once she started taking steps towards making it a reality, “it was so overwhelming, I had no idea what I was doing.”
That’s where the microloan comes in. Often one of the largest barriers to applying for financing is the terminology and paperwork involved. It can be confusing and daunting. The URA’s application takes this into account. Clocking in at only seven pages, it uses plain language and step-by-step directions. “They’re the only reason why I can take this risk right now,” Casey explained. She closed on her loan on March 11 and plans to be full-time by April.
Dennis Guy, First Sip Brew Box
Dennis Guy had started to believe that “if you don’t have money, you can’t follow your dreams.” He and his wife Sammi had come up with a few different ideas for businesses in the craft brewing industry. They loved the experiences they had in breweries and wanted to share that with others. They started brewing at home and looked into opening their own brewery. When they saw how expensive it was they looked for ways to send people a selection of craft beers through the mail. They soon realized how complicated it would be to use the postal service to deliver alcohol. Their next pivot led them to their final iteration now known as the First Sip Brew Box.
First Sip Brew Box sends customers a box filled with merchandise from a highlighted brewery (hats, mugs, t-shirts, etc.). It can be sent as a one-time purchase but the idea is that most people will become a part of the subscription service, receiving a new box of gear every month. The items in the box differ each month depending on who Guy is partnering with, but the goal is to highlight a craft brewery as well as a small business that is making unique products out of beer.
The URA was the first lending institution to take a risk on Guy and his wife and it drastically changed the way they run their business.
Because of the microloan from the URA, Guy and his wife have been able to expand their business and see real growth. The Mircoloan program, which is the first of its kind locally, was created to engage entrepreneurs that would not have access to traditional forms of financing.
The URA was the first lending institution to take a risk on Guy and his wife and it drastically changed the way they run their business. They’ve had a record-breaking number of subscriptions and visits to the website since receiving the loan and have already outdone what they had accomplished in the three years prior to this.
Guy has always been resourceful. As a kid growing up in New Kensington, he says that he mapped out the fruit trees and vegetable gardens in his neighborhood. During times when he wasn’t receiving consistent meals at home, he would ask the owners of the produce if they had any extra they could share with him. Working hard and being creative are skills that come naturally to him, but the hardest part of starting a business was “actually starting — buckling down and doing it every day, going from idea to dream and dream to reality.”
First Sip Brew Box is a minority-owned, woman-owned, veteran-owned business. Dennis tries to partner with businesses that have one of these three qualities but he has found it difficult to find these types of businesses in this industry. “There are no black-owned breweries in Western PA and only 3 percent of craft beer breweries are owned by minorities,” explained Guy.
The support offered by the URA is a way to make the work of turning the dream into reality more manageable.
This past year Guy partnered with Fresh Fest, which is the nation’s first Black brew festival. The festival was a huge success and will be held on August 10 this year in NOVA Place. The Inclusive Innovation Summit is also partnering with Fresh Fest this year to provide beer at the All-In Silent Disco.
Now that Dennis and his wife are on more secure footing, First Sip Brew Box has big goals for the year ahead including expanding two of their newest subscription programs: the Pet Brewbox and the Brewbox for Business.
The support offered by the URA is a way to make the work of turning the dream into reality more manageable. Behind every new business are people taking a chance at following their dreams. The URA staff understands this and they get to know each borrower. If desired, applicants can be paired with a business assistance provider who will help the applicant complete the application and affiliated materials. These providers work on-one-one with the applicant to help them think through their business plan, projections, and business strategy all at no cost. Dennis Guy spoke highly of his loan officer, who he said, “is the most organized person I’ve ever met in my entire life.”
From the outset, staff at the URA developed the program with entrepreneurs in mind. Focus groups were held across the city with business owners in various industries.
Pittsburgh is in a unique position to help small-business owners succeed, given how small and interconnected it can feel. “You’re going to see everybody over and over, everybody’s connected through mutually beneficial relationships that all come back around. I never felt that in New York… it was not even a concept I understood in New York,” says Casey Renee.
The URA hopes to continue to grow the loan program and is already looking to implement enhancements to the process. This could include extending the number of hours available to each borrower for free one-on-one business assistance and enlarging the potential loan amounts. The URA hopes to continue bringing more people into the fold of entrepreneurship in the city.
Here’s to more sweet loans for deserving businesses. I’ll drink to that.
The URA has been a valuable partner and sponsor for the Summit this year. To learn more about the Inclusive Innovation Summit, visit our website http://summit.weinnovatepgh.net/, download our App and follow us on Instagram @weinnovatepgh.
