In a section of Springfield with a number of empty storefronts, a new restaurant has opened its doors. It’s the product of an owner and staff with a passion for cooking, and also part of a special effort to serve “micro businesses.”
For a few fleeting minutes on Thursday, Jan. 15, there was a calm in Indian Orchard’s newest Main Street eatery.
Food prep at the “Taste of Tradition” restaurant was still underway as restaurateur Lia Warwick made the rounds, cleaning countertops one more time while taking what may have been the restaurant’s first order – brisket and eggs with a side of grits.
Warwick says the menu is multicultural, ranging from kofta to Cuban sandwiches to classic breakfast sandwiches, among other options.
“My mom is a mix of Cuban, African American and Syrian… [she] was born in New Jersey, I was born in Springfield, Mass, and we lived in Atlanta also … for about 13 years,” she recounted for WAMC while sitting at a booth. “We come from a lot of places! And we just put it all on one menu to give everybody a taste of different traditions...”
Just as the eggs hit the skillet that morning, the small dining room filled up with residents, city leaders and others packing in to mark the restaurant’s opening day.
It was a longtime coming for Warwick and her team. She tells WAMC she’s been working in restaurants since she was a teen – trained by her mother to enter what’s been a family trade. She’s striking out on her own, not too, too far from the other Taste of Tradition restaurant in Bennington, Vermont.
“It's very surreal and I'm just trying to take in every moment, because it's like a dream come true and I'm living it right now,” she added.
Helping make that dream happen: a $50,000 infusion from the Legacy Economic Development Corporation, or LEDC. Previously known as the Latino Economic Development Corporation, the Springfield-based group specializes in supporting numerous “micro businesses” throughout the region.
Last month, the LEDC doled out $125,00 in grants to different kinds of micro ventures – think small businesses, but on a scale where profits are smaller, ownership is as busy as any other staffer and teams are often not much bigger than a handful of employees.
In Warwick’s case, her venture won big during a special cook-off contest - a $50,000 prize package that included a full year of restaurant costs covered for ToT and $10,000 in direct capital.
“This is something that we've been thinking about for a while: how do you create generational wealth and get people from one step to another?” LEDC Director and Founder Andrew Melendez told WAMC. “Being able to get a whole year's rent, being able to get $10,000 cash when you win, being able to open a restaurant with the whole community behind you … four different chefs [competed] for this. The second prize winner got $5,000 and third and fourth place got $2,500. Impacting lives is all about creating generational wealth.”
Melendez tells WAMC that whether it’s the cookoff contest or the other grants LEDC awards, it’s funding intended to elevate business owners who have drive and passion, but may not have the means to take their operations up to the next level.
He says grants often cover expenses like new storefront signage or refurbished computers for an office or key repairs needed to get a food truck up and running.
The director adds that the money is intended to directly help ventures that make up the backbone of local economies. The state recently-defining what a “micro business” is helps, too.
“It’s completely changed: we are not saying ‘small businesses’ anymore - we're saying these are ‘micro businesses’ that have 20 employees or under… they’re making [no more than] $250,000 profit a year… that's 92 percent of all businesses in the state,” he explained. “The micro businesses are the ones that are feeding your kids, that … cut their hair - they're the framework of our community.”
One of the key lawmakers behind the push to define micro businesses was Springfield State Representative Carlos Gonzalez – who spoke with WAMC after polishing off a plate of eggs.
“Not only are the owners of micro businesses hiring people from the neighborhoods where they have their business, they're buying homes at a record rate and number and they're usually buying them in the same area, where their business is located,” said the 10th Hampden Democrat. “They are, again, fueling the economy… [replacing] we've lost because many of businesses went to malls. Well, the malls are closing down now. People are coming back. People want to feel that they can buy at a local boutique, get their hair cut, get their nails done, and also eat at a healthy place that's more local [with] home-type cooking.”
Gonzalez and Melendez say now, it’s a matter of pushing to secure more state funding for such micro ventures.
All the while, the stove tops at Warwick’s restaurant show no sign of cooling.
Elsewhere in the kitchen that morning, Yesenia Santos put the finishing touches on a rum cake. As she poured on the glaze of butter, brown sugar, vanilla extra and spiced rum, she told WAMC she hopes to see more restaurants open down the line.
“… to keep opening up more restaurants: there's one in Vermont already, and this is our second location - just to keep on building our family business,” she explained.
