First update from our 20th Anniversary Grant Winner - Brittany Buonocore

Editor Note: As a rule, all Idea Cafe grant winners provide monthly reports on how their business is doing since winning Idea Cafe's Grant. Here is the first update from Brittany Buonocore, the owner of Flour and Salt Bakery. Enjoy reading, and don't miss out on the opportunity to be inspired by her entrepreneurial spirit and business wisdom. In a six-month period she will share thoughts on how she uses the grant money in the best possible way in order to take her business to the next level.

Hey everyone! Britty from Flour and Salt Bakery here with my first blog update for the Idea Café. Over the past month, we have been hard at work in Hamilton, NY getting the bakery ready to open in mid-July. During this hard work, we’ve had a couple of great accomplishments.

First of all, we ran a successful Kickstarter campaign and raised $15,000 to help fund the business. I will detail in a later update on why I think our campaign was successful and how you too can run a campaign to help fund your business- something to look forward to!

Our second great accomplishment was getting featured in Colgate University’s view book, which will go out to 50,000 prospective students. Colgate is my alma mater and also the local university in Hamilton. We are so appreciative of the recognition and are proud that our business is featured as an alumnus success story.  Lastly, we hired four new employees who are now a part of the Flour and Salt family. Up to this point, the bakery has been run independently by me, Britty, with a lot of help and support from my fiancé. It is such a pleasure to be able to grow the business and see others reaping benefits from the success of the bakery.

However, as many of you know, running a small business is not only an accumulation of accomplishments. There are also many lessons and crises encountered along the way. One of the hardest parts of starting Flour and Salt has been self-educating about all of the logistical aspects of running a small business, whether this be about insurance, worker’s compensation, sales tax, health department regulations- the list goes on. There is a mountain of information you have to be in the know about in order to avoid stalling your progress. In order to overcome this, we have reached out to our fellow small business owners in the area to pick their brains about their own experiences. When starting a small business, I highly suggest cultivating a team of mentors who will be there for you when you have questions and confusions. These people will come to know your business and you, and will therefore be well-suited to help you along your journey.

Now, looking ahead! Our top business goals for the upcoming month are as follows:

1. Effectively advertise our two full-time positions for assistant baker and head chef, and hire reliable, hard-working employees to fill these positions.  

2. Find ways to generate capital despite the slow summer season in our sleepy central New York village.

3. Meet our slated open date of July 13^th so we can start getting the good food to the great people of Madison County!

Until next time, Idea Café friends.

Britty