Kitchen boosts incubator’s reach
ST. LOUIS — Holly Cunningham is expanding her business. Angela Watson is rebuilding her life.
Both are happening here, on the fourth floor of the St. Patrick Center, where holiday orders for goodies such as Lemon Heaven cookies and Holly Dolly dessert bars pour in.
It’s the busiest time of the year for Cunningham’s Hollyberry Baking Co., and she has turned to the region’s biggest provider of homeless services to help meet the demand.
St. Patrick is the only homeless services agency in the country to operate an in-house business incubator. In October, the agency opened a licensed commercial kitchen at the incubator and has since doubled its number of tenants, including the popular treat baker.
Cunningham, a Webster Groves mom, admits that it seemed an unlikely fit for her suburban business. Before taking the plunge, she said she gave her biggest sales pitch ever to employees, certain they would have trepidation about working downtown in a building that caters to transients.
She even ran the idea past some of her customers, making sure she wasn’t going completely off track. Support was overwhelming from both employees and customers, she said.
Watson is one of the four St. Patrick Center clients Cunningham has hired. Living in a women’s shelter and enrolled in a recovery program for drug addiction, Watson says the work experience and paycheck will help her get back on her feet and have job skills to get her permanent employment.
"I take life a day at a time," Watson said, as she packed fresh-baked dessert bars into clear plastic bags. "I’m a go-getter."
For Cunningham, the new kitchen at St. Patrick Center serves a dual purpose for her 11-year-old business. She can expand without the expense of adding on to her current business in case the uptick is only temporary. And she can tap into a ready-made work force that has been trained through various programs the center offers.
In turn, the social service agency has a new partner to hire those who many employers shun. In a climate of high unemployment, being homeless — often with a drug addiction or criminal record — makes finding work that much more challenging.
Cunningham and her employees train and supervise the St. Patrick clients working in the center’s kitchen.
"Having an established company here gives us a better grasp of food manufacturing and food distribution," said St. Patrick Center CEO Dan Buck.
St. Patrick Center received a $3.5 million federal grant to renovate two floors of its building at 800 North Tucker Boulevard, including space for a business incubator, which opened last year and now has 15 companies renting space. The businesses share a reception area and conference rooms, with access to office equipment such as a copy machine and postage meter. They pay for office space based on square footage.
The National Business Incubation Association says St. Patrick stands alone nationally as the only known center specifically catering to the homeless that has started an in-house business incubator.
"People are going to pay attention to this, especially given the current economic climate," said Corinne Colbert, spokeswoman for the association, which estimates there are 1,100 incubators in the country.
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, pleased with St. Patrick Center’s success, last month awarded the agency an additional $250,000 grant. It will be used to help buy more equipment for the culinary suite, which replaced a seldom used wood shop no fax cash advance. With the additional equipment, seven companies will be able to share the space, including two catering companies, a barbecue-sauce manufacturer, gourmet-popcorn maker and a company that specializes in whole-grain products including frozen waffles. In addition to startups, St. Patrick Center continues to look for established businesses such as Hollyberry to expand into the incubator.
"We’re encouraging companies to expand with a social conscience," Buck said.
The kitchen is a more practical work area than the wood shop, Buck said. Construction jobs are down, but there is always a need for food service and food production, he said.
"It’s an economic sector that is actually hiring," said Buck.
Outside the culinary suite, other businesses are using the St. Patrick incubator to grow their futures. Heaven Sent is one of them.
While in prison for dealing drugs, Lamond Allen repaired the dining hall’s stoves and refrigerators. That tinkering came in handy when his 7 1/2 year sentence ended two years ago.
With the help of St. Patrick Center, Allen got into a program that certified him in HVAC work. With that training, he started Heaven Sent, a building maintenance business.
He currently has a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to clean up and make safe foreclosed homes, including checking for gas leaks.
Allen has two employees, one an ex-con who went through the same training program as Allen, and another living in transitional housing.
"My whole focus is giving someone a chance," Allen said. Moving his business from his home into St. Patrick Center has helped him navigate the various trappings of a new business including legal, financial and insurance needs. If there is any question on how to run a business, the staff at the incubator, headed by Jan DeYoung, is there to lend a hand.
"They’re my lifeline," Allen said. And through the incubator, he has begun building relationships with other businesses. For example, he hired A.U. Innovative Land Management for a hauling job.
Cathey Allen and Ren