Author: Rencenter

Rica Sunga-Kwan started her ice cream operation Churn Urban Creamery two years ago in the Outer Sunset, the neighborhood where she grew up. But after trekking her ice cream cart across the city for popups and deliveries to show off flavors made with ingredients from her garden, Sunga-Kwan has found a permanent space for Churn in the Portola District, an area appropriately known as San Francisco’s Garden District in honor of its rich agricultural history.

Churn makes about 10 base flavors, many of them — like rosemary olive oil, lemon thyme, and fresh mint chip stracciatella — with ingredients from Sunga-Kwan’s garden plot, Beach Cottage Urban Farm, in the Outer Sunset.

Amid a rash of food business closures, one San Francisco neighborhood butcher shop has been saved from the brink of demise by an out-of-the-blue, angel investor, but the owner says small-business survival shouldn’t have to rely on such miracles.

Last month, Avedano’s Holly Park Market announced it would permanently close June 30 because of stiff competition from tech companies, uncertainty from the sale of its building and challenges in staffing.

The small-business owner said she now has a silent partner who just wants her to continue supporting small farmers and butchering whole animals for the foreseeable future.

Based in San Francisco, Heidi Gibson’s American Grilled Cheese Kitchen has grilled up a national following that’s boosted by her popular cookbook.

Being this cheesy isn’t easy. There’s little downtime when you’re a new mom, senior director of product management at GoDaddy, a recipe tester for America’s Test Kitchen, as well as a mentor in the small business community and a first-time franchisor with big dreams—but Gibson remains a happy juggler.

Further down the line, Gibson dreams of reaching 50 locations—just 47 more to go—as the inflection point where life gets easier as they move beyond bootstrapping into a place where franchise infrastructure begins to take the lead. In this fantastical future with busywork off her plate, Gibson wants to keep giving back to the “little ecosystem” of small business owners she frequents and maybe, just maybe, dust off that business plan for a biscuit-based concept she wrote years ago.

“Carter started her culinary career selling plates at her uncle’s church. Encouraged by success, she decided to go to culinary school to learn both the cooking techniques and the business aspects of the food world. She attended Le Cordon Bleu and in 2017, her Creole food business was born. She called it Boug Cali.”

“Since its inception, Carter has held pop-ups in other restaurant spaces and most recently became one of the inaugural food vendors at the Warriors’ new Chase Center. In early 2020, she will be one of the featured restaurants in La Cocina’s forthcoming Tenderloin food hall.”

“On her menu you’ll find an assortment of po’boys, gumbo and burritos, all with Creole touches, an intentional decision to pay homage to both her family’s roots throughout the South and her own upbringing in California.”

Chef Yaqueline Martinez launched her own catering company after receiving business training, planning and support from the Richmond nonprofit.

Her business, Yaqueline y Su Sabor Cubano, was just a dream for the Cuban immigrant a decade ago, but it became a reality thanks in large part to small-business training and support from Richmond’s Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center. The organization not only helped her get started with a business plan, licensing and social media presence for catering large and small events, but also helped her pivot during the pandemic and continue to thrive by providing family meals and delivery services.