{"id":39257,"date":"2016-03-20T12:34:14","date_gmt":"2016-03-20T17:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=39257"},"modified":"2016-03-21T15:44:04","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T20:44:04","slug":"englewood-sources-talent-from-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/englewood-sources-talent-from-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Englewood sources talent from community"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Siri Bulusu <\/strong><\/p>\n

For Rachel Bernier-Green, business and baking were always inextricably linked.<\/p>\n

As a child, the Chicago native learned math by following baking instructions from her mother and was selling brownies and homemade potpourri to classmates. A strong aptitude for math led Green to business school and a successful accounting job.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven before I was baking, I was a kid-preneur,\u201d Bernier-Green said. “I\u2019ve been scheming for a while. Finding out how math could assist in my ventures helped me fit it all together.”<\/p>\n

After five years of working as a public accountant in Chicago, Bernier-Green decided to transition her experience with numbers and love of baking, into her own enterprise \u2014 Laine\u2019s Bake Shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a cook that went to business school, and now I\u2019m an accountant that is a chef,\u201d Bernier-Green said.<\/p>\n

With the math and baking skills down, what Bernier-Green needed was guidance with setting up her own bakery. In July of 2013, Bernier-Green sold her cookies at an event hosted by the Bronzeville Retail Initiative, an organization focused on returning retail business to Chicago\u2019s South Side. Gina Caruso, assistant commissioner of the City of Chicago\u2019s new Small Business Center, noticed Green and her cookies and told her about a new Whole Foods opening in Englewood. Caruso connected Green with the Greater Englewood Community Development Corporation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim is to change the conversation about the South Side of Chicago,\u201d said Jim Harbin, program director at the GECDC. \u201cThe stories coming out of here are about a tiny percentage of the population here. People really need to start focusing on the potential that the residents of Englewood see in themselves.”<\/p>\n

In a 2013 press release, Whole Foods announced it would open a new store in Englewood that would bring 100 jobs to the area and provide healthy food options to the community. In October of 2014, the GECDC began a series of three workshops in collaboration with Whole Foods to connect the store\u00a0with local vendors to support the company’s local sourcing initiative.<\/p>\n

“When we open a store, we plant deep roots in the community we serve; creating a space that is more than a daily grocery, but a community gathering place where everyone can share their love of food,\u201d said Alison Phelps, a spokesperson for Whole Foods in an e-mail.<\/p>\n

Bernier-Green attended all three of the GECDC workshops, with the intention of pitching to Whole Foods, gaining skills ranging from packaging to kitchen protocol.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe did everything we asked her to do plus more,\u201d said Jennipher Adkins, marketing director of the GECDC. \u201cIf we weren\u2019t on her, she was on us. She wanted to exploit the opportunity and use it to the fullest extent.”<\/p>\n

According to Harbin, about 260 unique businesses attended the three-day workshop and of those, 49 pitched to Whole Foods. Laine\u2019s Bake Shop was one of 15 Englewood businesses selected to sell in\u00a0Whole Foods\u00a0stores, and not just in Englewood.<\/p>\n

Phelps said that while Whole Foods buyers were impressed by the taste and quality of Laine\u2019s Bake Shop cookies, it was Bernier-Green’s \u201ccommunity supportive business approach\u201d that developed the link.<\/p>\n

Bernier-Green said that although\u00a0for now\u00a0Laine’s Bake Shop is just her and her husband,\u00a0part of her desire to create a small business on the South Side was to impact the community by bringing jobs that can become career paths.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people we want to hire are from areas that are chronically unemployed due to homelessness or incarceration,\u201d Bernier-Green said. \u201cThey struggle to find a decent job that gives them the opportunity to turn it around.”<\/p>\n

When the time comes to expand Laine’s Bake Shop, Bernier-Green plans to hire employees straight out of job training programs held by South Side organizations such as Growing Home, an organic farm in Englewood, and Young Moms Inc., a group that supports young mothers and their children.<\/p>\n

“We’ll be based in the South Side for the foreseeable future so we’ll be hiring workers who have the closest proximity,” Bernier-Green said.<\/p>\n

Adkins of\u00a0GECDC\u00a0went\u00a0on to say that the success of the Englewood\u00a0store will rest on the Englewood community itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll eyes are on the community and it\u2019s their responsibility to make this work,” said Adkins. \u201cWhen a premium food company comes to one of the most poverty-stricken neighborhoods in\u00a0 the city, it made everyone shake their head.”<\/p>\n

Phelps\u00a0 said that by investing in Englewood, the company\u00a0has decided to\u00a0\u201cchallenge\u201d the perception that quality food is exclusive to certain citizens.<\/p>\n

Jim Harbin, of\u00a0GECDC,\u00a0said that Whole Foods made a smart move by tapping into the existing market on the South Side of Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen retailers ask you for your zip code, they document where people come from,\u201d Harbin said. \u201cThey are using data to make decisions to build stores in Englewood. They know this is a good business decision.”<\/p>\n

When Laine’s Bake Shop products\u00a0were first offered\u00a0at Whole Foods, Bernier-Green estimates that sales were about $1000 per month, or 15 to 20 pounds of cookies,\u00a0\u00a0for three locations,\u00a0in Lincoln Park, the South Loop and West Loop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started in three stores because we were only baking part-time then,\u201d Bernier-Green said. \u201cIt was the quickest, easiest and most cost-effective way to get our foot in the door. That move was crucial.”<\/p>\n

At the outset Bernier-Green was almost completely self-financed, but she had\u00a0invaluable support from Englewood Blue, an accelerator program operated through the GECDC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer a place for people to conduct business before they have a business,\u201d Harbin said. \u201cWe have counselors to help if someone is worried about a business plan or a social media campaign.”<\/p>\n

Members of Englewood Blue pay a monthly fee of $25 to use\u00a0its\u00a0Englewood office space, which has\u00a0Internet-connected computers and conference rooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe money that is offset by Englewood Blue is then recycled back into the small business,\u201d Harbin said. \u201cThose savings should be able to accelerate the growth of your business.”<\/p>\n

In addition to support\u00a0from Englewood Blue and the GECDC, Bernier-Green procured a $5000 crowd-funded loan from Kiva Zip.<\/p>\n

Green said Laine\u2019s Bake Shop has been successful due to Whole Foods\u2019 commitment to helping small businesses grow at a \u201chealthy pace.”<\/p>\n

“We were able to enter wholesale so early in our endeavor because of the support of Whole Foods and GECDC, an opportunity that would have been several years away.\u201d Bernier-Green said.<\/p>\n

Now two years into the business, Bernier-Green said\u00a0her 2016 goal is to bring in $500,000 in revenue, a 600 percent increase from 2015. Laine\u2019s Bake Shop\u00a0now has products in eight Chicago-area Whole Foods locations and Bernier-Green has doubled the number of flavors offered – including “Honey Nut Peanut Butter Cookies” and “Bourbon Carmel Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThis business is meant to be a success for a lot of people,\u201d Bernier-Green said. “We are trying to create generational wealth so our kids have better options. This is meant to be transformational not just for the community, but for my family.”<\/p>\n

Bernier-Green said Laine\u2019s Bake Shop still faces many challenges, scaling to accommodate an increase in orders being one of them. She and her husband are currently working around the clock to keep up with meeting and order requests.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now this has seeped into all aspects of our lives,” Bernier-Green said. “You have to do the best you can and pivot when things change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy when we run into obstacles but at the end of the day what makes it all worth it is knowing we\u2019ll have a real impact on our community,\u201d Bernier-Green said. \u201cWe can significantly change their lives and financial well being.”<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Rachel Bernier-Green prepares cookies at a shared kitchen space in Chicago’s West Loop. (Siri Bulusu\/ MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Siri Bulusu For Rachel Bernier-Green, business and baking were always inextricably linked. As a child, the Chicago native learned math by following baking instructions from her mother and was selling brownies and homemade potpourri to classmates. A strong aptitude for math led Green to business school and a successful accounting job. \u201cEven before I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":39259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,28,585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-general-interest","category-winter-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nEnglewood sources talent from community - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/englewood-sources-talent-from-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Englewood sources talent from community - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Siri Bulusu For Rachel Bernier-Green, business and baking were always inextricably linked. 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