The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation

In 2012, TEC-CDC established the Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises (CCE) with the primary purposes of decreasing the racial wealth gap for business owners of color and creating greater economic opportunities for culinary businesses by strengthening the local food ecosystem. TEC-CDC owns and operates the CCE, a 13,000+ sq. ft., LEED-silver certified culinary business incubator that accelerates the growth of minority-owned food businesses. This state-of-the-art facility offers four commercial kitchen spaces, specialized food production equipment, generous workspace, storage, and multi-media presentation/event space. The CCE provides the following services and support:

1. Certification: We assist businesses with obtaining certification as Minority, Women, and/or Disabled Business Enterprise (M/W/DSBE) and ServSafe certification.
2. Upskilling: Businesses receive expert consultation on financial planning, budgeting, marketing, inventory management, feasibility studies, and product testing.
3. Specialty workshops: Monthly guest speaker series provide a forum for culinary industry professionals to speak about trends and current food business topics.
4. Foodie Forums: These events introduce local West Philadelphia residents to the benefits and requirements of a career in the culinary industry, promoted through our website, mailing list, print collateral, and networks of partners such as the Walnut Hill Community Association. Contracting Networks: The CCE connects small businesses with contract opportunities through its procurement connections to West Philadelphia Institutions (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Drexel University, University of Pennsylvania). Food products made at the CCE have been purchased for resale by major Philadelphia institutions such as CHOP, the University of Pennsylvania, and Sodexo. 

There is an established local food ecosystem in West Philadelphia that provides meaningful living wage jobs and economic opportunities for minority low-income residents and businesses. TEC-CDC capitalized on this local asset and created the CCE to assist the growth of minority culinary enterprises and help them overcome 3 main challenges:

1. Costly commercial kitchen space: by sharing a kitchen, businesses do not bear the high cost of the space and benefit from economies of scale.
2. Incomplete Business Skills: the CCE provides an opportunity to develop advanced business and culinary skills and access markets and growth capital.
3. Collaboration: the shared space enables entrepreneurs to collaborate in joint ventures and purchase from one another.

In 2021, TEC-CDC surveyed businesses on local commercial corridors who reported a 40-70% loss in revenue because of COVID-19 and civil unrest. Minority culinary businesses (MBEs) were severely impacted by the pandemic; many did not benefit from bailout programs such as The Philadelphia COVID-19 Restaurant and Gym Relief Program or the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund due to small size or because they were not a bricks and mortar business.

COVID-19 also interfered with CCE clients benefitting from the economies of scale fostered by sharing space, learning together, and collaborating with one another. These businesses produce healthy food (pushing back against the excess of neighborhood fast food) and catering to diverse tastes.

The CCE builds on the entrepreneurial assets of culinary MBEs in Greater Philadelphia to accelerate growth and greater economic inclusion.

The Center for Culinary Enterprises addresses a solvable problem by providing access to capital and networks that unlock new markets enabling minority, culinary enterprises (MBEs) to compete in the regional economy in a meaningful way. TEC-CDC’s solution fully aligns with SOLVE’s challenge in the following ways:

• Solvable: TEC-CDC helps MBEs achieve their dreams and achieve social impact through strategic business development that helps them grow and scale. Since opening in 2012, the Center for Culinary Enterprises (CCE) has created over 400 jobs and since 2016, over $250,000 in client contracts annually. Our affiliate The Enterprise Center Capital Corporation has connected culinary clients to $146,000 in capital.
• Partnerships: The CCE has extensive procurement networks and access to capital connections that benefit the Center’s clients. Partnerships open economic opportunities that were previously unobtainable to culinary entrepreneurs because they could not access these opportunities circulated through close networks. TEC-CDC's collaborations with anchor institution partners CHOP, Drexel University, Bon Appetit, and Sodexo assist MBEs with strategic food sourcing and establishing regional vendor relationships. 
• Innovation: The CCE leverages economies of scale to group multiple culinary businesses under one roof, eliminating the financial outlay for maintaining a “bricks and mortar” business.
• Human-centered solutions: Like the SOLVE challenge, TEC-CDC is committed to anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion, and recognizes that it is critical to build on the assets of an underserved community. The CCE empowers minority culinary entrepreneurs to compete in the regional economy by increasing their business capacity, financial acumen, and skills. 

TEC-CDC’s revitalization activities serve start-ups and new entrepreneurs (some starting businesses out of their homes) who really benefit from the support and skill building activities and resources provided through the CCE. Business clients are 75% low- and moderate-income people from a racially and culturally diverse population of African American, Caucasian, Asian-American, Caribbean, and West African immigrant residents. The community we serve has been negatively impacted by high unemployment, low educational attainment, and persistent poverty, and more recently, COVID-19 and civil unrest. 30% of residents live below the federal poverty level versus 25.3% citywide. The neighborhood also has a very-low median household income of $26,901.

Our community and economic development work focuses on stimulating investment, creating job opportunities for low-income residents, and improving the capacity of minority small businesses through skill development, financial literacy, and access to new markets and resources. Our stakeholders come from all walks of life ranging from culinary entrepreneurs to commuters, minority, small business owners to neighborhood leaders. Through inclusive practices, including hiring in the community, upskilling, and training of residents, TEC-CDC has built a bridge to stakeholders resulting in increased diversity of income, race, and ethnicity in our organization.

To understand the community’s needs and priorities, TEC-CDC conducts surveys, the earliest beginning in 2007 and most recently in 2021. The solicitation of diverse perspectives has been beneficial when advising on economic development activities. TEC-CDC also directly hires community members who have experienced poverty, helping to build their professional capacities. We also have a strong supplier diversity policy.

The people we serve have benefitted from the transformation of public spaces, buildings, and businesses and from renewed pride of place through the positive changes that signal a rebounding community. 

The Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises (CCE) is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and services small, minority culinary enterprises in the Greater Philadelphia region (which includes Camden, NJ, and Wilmington Delaware).

The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation's mission is to catalyze benefits for businesses and residents that spark community revitalization. We serve start-ups and sustain small businesses. TEC-CDC provides a continuum of business advisory services to meet our clients where they are. TEC-CDC also supports the mission of its parent organization, The Enterprise Center, a business accelerator over 30 years old and our affiliate, a community development financial institution that provides small business loans that range from $50,000 to $500,000.

TEC-CDC’s work is part of an ongoing larger strategy to anchor wealth in disadvantaged communities and create pathways out of poverty; economic justice is key to dismantling racism. There is a significant amount of literature about minority enterprises (MBE) lack of inclusion in regional economies due to lack of capital for business growth, connections for business opportunities, and contracts to build past performance.

TEC-CDC’s theory of change synthesizes proven, community and economic development best practices for a simple, but powerful solution. Our combination of professional business advisory services, access to growth capital and business and community networks position businesses that are poised for growth but need more grounding in business practices and networks to compete and succeed.

1. TEC-CDC’s solution builds on an existing procurement initiative that actively recruits and develops the capacity of minority enterprises (MBEs).
2. TEC-CDC is connected to a broad coalition of businesses, banks, and mentors because we know we can’t do the work alone. Together, we remove the barriers that stymie MBEs:  limited capacity, access to financing, or lack or professional resources.
3. Lastly, MBEs shut out of traditional financing now have access to non-predatory growth capital through our affiliate CDFI and lending partners.

[1] http://economyleague.org/providing-insight/regional-direction/2018/04/24/anchor-procurement-initiative-a-cross-sector-approach-to-business-growth-and-job-creation#:~:text=The%20Anchor%20Procurement%20Initiative%20(API,local%20businesses%20and%20create%20jobs

[2] Ross Baird, Bruce Katz, Jihae Lee And Daniel Palmer. “Towards A New System of Community Wealth”, Drexel University Nowak Metro Finance Lab, 2019, URL: https://drexel.edu/~/media/Files/nowaklab/Drexel_NMFL_CommunityWealth_Final.ashx?la=en

(Current) # of clients served: 118

# Clients served in one year: 130

# Clients served in five years: 179

TEC-CDC serves low-to-moderate income minority businesses and residents (93% minorities and 72% are African American) on disinvested commercial corridors and underserved neighborhoods. The effects of COVID-19,  and recent waves of social unrest have hit our communities hard. Client businesses occupy diverse industries with annual revenues between $10,000 and $50,000 and 1-3 employees. Public partners Walnut Hill Community Assoc. is our grassroots community engagement partner, and LISC, Philadelphia Commerce Department, and Philadelphia DHCD support our corridor revitalization work. Elected officials Philadelphia Mayor Kenney, Councilwoman Gauthier, State Senator Vincent Hughes, Congress member Dwight Evans, Senator Bob Casey, and others support TEC-CDC’s revitalization initiatives. 

TEC-CDC is a culturally sensitive and trusted partner of community residents, businesses, and other stakeholders. TEC-CDC’s history of engagement and advocacy ensures we acknowledge and utilize the diverse and authentic perspectives of the community. With its public, private, and community partners, TEC-CDC ensures that planning and revitalization in transitioning West Philadelphia neighborhoods results in increased hiring of minority and low-income residents, participation of minority business enterprises in anchor institution vendor opportunities, and resident engagement in neighborhood planning.

TEC-CDC uses entrepreneurship, capital investment, and inclusive planning to advance economic mobility. TEC-CDC’s priorities are guided by a neighborhood plan (2016 Walnut Hill Plan), which contains 52 key performance indicators (KPI) that address blight and vacancy through initiatives that are clean and safe and environmentally friendly. The Center for Culinary Enterprises transformed the look and feel of this distressed neighborhood by eliminating a blighted and abandoned grocery store and adding two local sit-down family friendly restaurants. This positive physical improvement promotes neighborhood spending, attracts additional business investment, and changes negative perceptions of the safety of this commercial corner.

TEC-CDC builds trust with residents and businesses through proactive outreach, solicitation of feedback, and maintaining 51% community representation on our Board of Directors. Selected outreach:

Community/Client Demand for More Food Options

• 2016 Walnut Hill Neighborhood Plan: Over 570 stakeholders participated in the planning process between October 2014 and August 2015, and >span class="normaltextrun">e results of this community engaged process focused TEC-CDC’s activities on increasing healthy food in the community and revitalizing the commercial corridors to attract and promote new healthy food businesses to create jobs and improve the quality of life for all stakeholders. 
• 46th Street & Market Community Survey: From November 2019 through November 2020, TEC-CDC facilitated 5 large stakeholder group convenings and numerous one-on-one conversations across 35 civic, governmental, and private entities and organizations (including Drexel University, Walnut Hill Community Association, and CHOP). Respondents were interested in increasing access to healthy food, locally owned businesses, and Professional Services/Retail/hospitality/grocers/cooking jobs. 

TEC-CDC is developing the local food ecosystem with the following long-term goals:

Goal 1: Increase client business revenue by 10% and increase contracts and economic opportunities annually by 50%.

Strategy: TEC-CDC’s procurement partnership with Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania and other anchor institutions provides local food products produced in TEC-CDC’s culinary incubator.

Goal 2: Community-centric development: TEC-CDC envisions a pipeline of CCE clients scaling to such a capacity that they can take on bricks and mortar locations in local commercial corridors. These clients would receive business advisory skills and capital→ scale up→ occupy vacant commercial space on the corridor→ create local jobs and spend.

Strategy: We actively attract new businesses to the area and supporting them with business advisory services as needed. TEC-CDC is strategically acquiring properties on the main commercial corridors to fill the food products and services retail leakage gaps on our mixed-use corridors and protect properties from predatory development.

Goal 3: Increase Food Choice: The community has asked for more and healthier food options in the neighborhood, including family-friendly sit-down restaurants. TEC-CDC seeks to increase healthier food options, mitigate the excess of fast food, and improve the health of residents in this limited supermarket access area disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

  Strategy: TEC-CDC’s business technical assistance for culinary entrepreneurs: Most recently, TEC-CDC has supported CCE client of one year Honeysuckle to scale and transition from the CCE to become the anchor tenant of TEC-CDC’s project “The Commons”. 

President & CEO: Della Clark has over 30 years of experience connecting disadvantaged small businesses and minority-owned businesses to opportunities in Philadelphia and the Mid-Atlantic region. Under the leadership of Della Clark, The Enterprise Center has grown from business incubator to accelerator to investor and is regarded as an innovative and effective place-based organization focused on supporting under-resourced communities and minority entrepreneurs.  Ms. Clark is a business and finance expert, entrepreneur, and is responsible for 37 staff and a $5.2 million consolidated organizational budget.

Vice President: Tim Roundtree was brought on as a new Vice President, and Director of our Community Development Corporation. In his previous position as Deputy Director Diversity & Inclusion for the City of Philadelphia, Tim led efforts to ensure that minority and women-owned Philadelphia businesses meaningfully participate in contract opportunities for the City’s Rebuild program and become more sustainable and profitable as a result. The Rebuild program invests hundreds of millions of dollars from the Philadelphia Beverage Tax to improve parks, recreation centers, and community facilities in Philadelphia communities and promote diversity and inclusion.

As the COVID-19 pandemic remakes the business landscape, TEC-CDC needs support to continue implementing innovative strategies to strengthen the capacity of MBEs to survive the post-pandemic economy. Making sure that minority businesses have the same economic opportunities as non-minority businesses and achieving economic equity for underserved minority communities are the critical social issues that TEC-CDC addresses. Black communities have disproportionately high unemployment numbers, minority businesses are underrepresented when getting bank loans, and economic mobility for underserved communities seems as far out of reach for distressed communities as it was during the 60s and Urban Renewal. In 2020, the poverty rate for African Americans in the City of Philadelphia was 24.3% compared to 11.4% in the U.S. (2020 U.S. Census).

The CCE has implemented a strategy that works for minority culinary businesses, and seeks to increase the volume of businesses that may benefit. Through the creation of the CCE, we solved 3 primary challenges affecting diverse culinary businesses:

1. the high cost of most commercial kitchen space,
2. the need to develop advanced business skills as well as culinary skills, and
3. difficulty accessing markets and growth capital.

As we’ve overcome these challenges, COVID-19 has created new ones for the restaurant industry and culinary entrepreneurs, and the CCE requires COVID-19 retrofitting upgrades and new equipment to serve the greatest number of businesses safely.

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Human Capital: Assisting with professional development and building financial competencies in staff

Business Model: Partnering with investment analysts and strategists

Public Relations: Marketing strategies for the CCE to increase volume of membership

Technology: Support for eKitchen upgrades and virtual technical assistance

TEC-CDC would like to partner with Investment strategists and analysts with excellence in community-centric planning. These partners could help us develop new financial models for sustainability for our social enterprises.