PHX Reporter

City of Phoenix issued the following announcement on Jan. 20.

As the city of Phoenix accepts applications for the next cohort of the Sustainable Cooperative Food Business Training Program, a previous participant reflects on how the program helped him get his restaurant concept off the ground. The 10-week course, taught by Thrive Consultancy, Inc., is funded by Phoenix's Office of Environmental Programs (OEP). It helps current and aspiring entrepreneurs create a cooperative -- an employee-owned business -- through classes on business planning, group decision-making, budgeting, marketing, and more.

“One of the things that I wanted to really get out of the program was how to finish starting a business. I always kind of got to a point where I would start it and then not know where else to go," said Les Rayford, owner of Brown Sugaz Kitchen. “It helped me take my idea to an actual business,"

Originally, Rayford had a small business model where he would make food for small clients or families, often around the holidays.

 “We have fried chicken, fried ribs, homemade cornbread, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole, collard greens. This is absolutely soul food!" he said.

When he joined the 2021 cohort of the training program, his idea was to start a soul food truck, until he realized he had even better options. His brick-and-mortar kitchen will be opening in March 2022.

“What this program actually helped me do was continue to build tools for my restaurant to understand what the cost of goods are concerned, ingredient costs, putting together my recipes and understanding why I had to do those things to really help my costs and expenses stay as low as possible," Rayford said. “With the co-op, and having individuals interested in doing the same thing that I'm doing, it cut my stress level down. IT helped me with other ideas and things that I never even thought about before."

The city of Phoenix is funding the upcoming spring cohort, which runs from Feb. 24 to April 28, 2022, for up to 25 applicants. Training sessions will be held in downtown Phoenix each Thursday from 4pm to 7pm with virtual options available. While there is no charge for accepted participants, they are required to commit to full participation and completion of the program. The application deadline is February 1, 2022.

Original source can be found here.