COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. — One local small business is helping other small businesses get their start. The Cooking Connection is helping to connect the dots on what can be a complicated and costly process.
“We opened up our space up years ago to other food businesses to get a licensed spot, to see if this is something that they want to do, that they’re good at,” said Holly del Rosario, managing partner of Cooking Connection.
It isn’t easy starting a business, even with state laws in place to ease that burden.
Del Rosario explained, “Michigan Cottage Food laws allow certain classes of food to be produced out of the home, the cottages. Those are foods that are generally not a risk to public health. So, you don’t have the time/temperature controls, things like cookies, cakes, muffins, pies.”
Going from selling baked goods to owning a business, “That step is a huge kind of scary step for a small business. A lot of the places are looking for five-year leases from you and you don’t know if you’re going to be around next month, never mind five years from now,” said del Rosario. “So, a lot of small businesses either stay there, stunted really, or they shut down because they don’t want to take that next step.”
The Cooking Connection provides a licensed facility to sort of test it out.
Del Rosaria said, “We’ve had others that have tried and haven’t succeeded but at least they didn’t have to cash in a 401(k) to do that.”
Jacqueline Homrich told 13 ON YOUR SIDE, “We need a safe space. There’s not a lot of safe spaces for us and people like us. We’re not always accepted in different places.”
She’s the owner of The Coffee Crew, the latest company making use of this incubator business.
“I work with 13 adults with disabilities,” said Homrich.
“There’s a great workforce that’s largely untapped,” said del Rosario, referring to people with special needs. “They’re very supportive of one another and having spent 35 years in the corporate world, I’m thinking corporate America could learn a lot about how they operate.”
Homrich expressed, “The space to not only be able to be ourselves, but to be able to thrive and grow a business which they can all be passionate about and find little ways to move their own lives forward, it’s impossible to say just how important that kind of opportunity is to people like me and to us.”
“I’ve been fortunate enough to see and experience what great workers they are. They want to be here. Their families want them here. They’re quite capable. If you look at our facilities, we’ve made adaptations so they can operate in there safely,” said del Rosario.
Homrich described those working with her, saying, “We have ranging abilities. We have cerebral palsy, we have Down syndrome, we have autism, learning disabilities.”
This doesn’t mean you should automatically count people with special needs out.
“Sometimes, they have a disability in one area, they’re actually better in other areas. Sometimes, having autism, while it’s hard to do certain tasks, it makes other tasks easier. You’re a lot more laser focused. Your ability to get things done, sometimes, is better than others,” said Homrich.
The Coffee Crew is a coffee roasting company that grinds and roasts coffee beans.
“We also make in the store, the java chip cookies and there’s java muffins. So, this is using our coffee,” said Homrich pointing to the baked goods at the front of the counter. “With help, all of them are capable of doing anything that they want to do, and they want to get out to be able to run a business.”
The Coffee Crew has an event coming up Saturday, May 4, where you can meet the crew and learn more about what they have to offer. It’s called Caffeine Connect and it's taking place at their location on West River Drive in Comstock Park.
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