Workshop Grads Hear Stories From Entrepreneurs
BY THOMAS COGAN

Those who would be business entrepreneurs are often advised that they need fiery passion about what they want to do and the toughness to endure setbacks and unforeseen events that would curtail or even destroy their intended achievements. The autumn session of the entrepreneurship workshop at the Artisan Baking Center, 36-46 37th St. in Long Island City, was concluded with a graduation ceremony in late November, after which some two dozen persons, mainly connected to food sales and marketing, went into the business arena. They are going to need all of the enthusiasm they showed at the ceremony and a good deal of resiliency to withstand the difficulties they will certainly face, according to the rewards and the agonies of business described to them by the evening's guest speaker, Leslie Nilsson of Sage American Kitchen. Though she is someone who could certainly be looked to as an entrepreneurial success, Nilsson nonetheless cautioned her listeners that successes and failures, of which they might have both, would change them greatly.

The entrepreneurship workshop series covered such topics as product development, legal structures and tax issues, insurance and product liability, hiring and managing employees, applying for and getting loans and writing a business plan. Most of the students were bakers, but the rest included chocolate makers, caterers, persons opening food shops and even a partnership that makes and sells organic dog food. Some of them have had years of experience; others are starting out or coming from other occupations to become food creators and marketers.

Each graduating student was asked to get up and give a so-called "elevator pitch", a description lasting 30 seconds that each might deliver to someone in an elevator before either person's floor is reached. The recitations tended to last much longer than a half-minute but were nonetheless interesting. A woman introduced herself as "Carol Lang, chocolatier" and described herself as a graduate of schools in Vancouver and France, where she learned to disdain preservatives yet treat chocolate "like chemistry". She lives in Forest Hills and plans to launch her business in February. "Artisan chocolate making is a very competitive business, especially in New York," she said, but she hopes "my unique flavor development will set me apart". Don Abrams makes ready-to-bake items: "We make 'em, you bake 'em." In comparing his product with similar, familiar commercial brands, however, he said his comes "without the crap" in it. He said that "yoga moms", 25 to 50 years old and seeking better ingredients in the food they make and serve, are his target market. A Manhattan resident, he believes he can begin business there, selling to a number of "mini- Balducci's" extant throughout the borough.

Hope McQueen has been in the business of turning out Hope's Plum Pudding for several years but came to the workshop to learn how better to appeal to corporate customers and wedding events. Ketty Danielle Rouchon said all 10 weeks of the workshop were "eye-opening" to her. She bakes cakes, both red velvet and Haitian ones; she said proudly that there may be other such cakes around, but they're not like hers. She said she plans to do business by appointment only. She got started on it just a few days earlier, at Thanksgiving. She said she'd treated her friends to her baking for some time but has lately told them, "The ride is over, now I'm selling them." As for Odette Bernardis and Patricia Faria, they are going the old brickand mortar route, since they're on the verge of opening a coffee house called Chocolate Spoon at 37-03 31st Ave. in Astoria.

Eduardo Mari got a dog he named Trudy from the pound on 110th Street in Harlem in 2004. From the start, he found her to be a picky eater who seemed to be telling him he should feed her better. With encouragement from his sister, Mari not only started making dog food for his own pet but for others' dogs too. In the process, he has come to believe the commercial manufacturers are feeding dogs "garbage". He read the audience a letter from a satisfied customer, who told him his sickly, 13-year-old dog regained its health on a diet of Trudy's Homemade Dog Food, which, Mari advertises, is "made fresh in Hell's Kitchen, NY". Mari now has a business with a partner and a delivery area, which he is trying to expand. He also has a business card with the visage of Trudy, a white boxer with large brown eyes, on it.

Aleida Diaz is the sole proprietor of her catering/ event planning services called Two Fishes and Five Loaves, which she has turned to after a career in real estate and cooking on the night shift at the United Nations. She is an on-the-job cook, with no school experience. She said the entrepreneurship workshop made her feel "like a college girl".

These course graduates and several others told their stories and also laid out some food on a nearby kitchen counter, those fortunate enough to be in attendance could sample the items. There were several business experts available for networking and consultation- for instance, Jaena H. Valles, a certified public accountant who read some business horror stories that her clients brought to her to the group. She said she wants to help such clients before they get in too deep. "Your accountant is your reality check," she said, as a way of warning these new entrepreneurs to align their dreams with the real world. One piece of priceless advice: "Do not ignore letters from the IRS."

By that time, everybody was ready for the evening's guest speaker, Leslie Nilsson, who opened her address by asking: "Are you sure you want to own your own business?"

Nilsson has owned hers, at first in partnership and now alone, for nearly a decade. Sage American Kitchen was started as a catering business in Long Island City by two persons with $30,000. For all the expenses the business incurred, Nilsson said, this seems an insanely small start-up fund in retrospect. Failing vehicles and other early setbacks made life a struggle, but when Sage landed the catering contract at Silvercup Studios, where "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City" were being made, it was on its way. Today the enterprise comprises a catering and wholesale kitchen on Jackson Avenue, the Café at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center and Sage Events and Café St. Bart's in Manhattan.