The Paleta Bar, a retail store specializing in “fresh gourmet Mexican pops,” started in a small strip mall in Albuquerque. Several years later it boasts 33 stores selling Mexican ice pops in 7 states. The company’s rapid growth can be traced to an aggressive plan to open its own stores in addition to selling franchises — stores owned by others that use the company’s name and retail business model.
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RCAC Boosts Food Truck “Over the Moon”
Melinda Arquero’s dream of owning a food truck business came true in 2019. Spurred by childhood memories of selling frybread from a roadside tent alongside her mother, the Cochiti Pueblo native purchased a truck to maintain the Pueblo frybread tradition and honor the dream she shared with the mother she lost to cancer 10 years earlier. Her plan was to serve frybread to Cochiti Pueblo residents and visitors at tribal events.
And then the pandemic hit. Pueblo communities were placed on lockdown prohibiting visitors from entering tribal lands where they could pass the virus to Native Americans – a population that suffered virus deaths at one of the highest rates of any race or ethnicity. Arquero’s new Over The Moon food truck was forced to sit idle.
A Chance Meeting
Arquero, known by family and friends as Moon, learned about the nonprofit lender Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) by chance soon after pandemic health regulations loosened. She was invited to bring Over The Moon to a regional housing meeting at the Cochiti Housing Department. Hosted by RCAC, the meeting focused on RCAC housing and development programs, but conversations revealed RCAC’s work with rural small businesses. Subsequent conversations resulted in a loan and a relationship that has put the business on solid footing and given it more opportunities than Arquero originally envisioned.
Continue readingGovt. Contracting as Path to Increased Revenue
Business owners curious about growing their businesses through government contracting can attend one or more upcoming webinars, workshops, and accelerator programs.
Continue readingGallup Bakery Thriving
A book changed Jacqueline Ahasteen’s life. As a teenager, she stumbled across a culinary arts encyclopedia that had belonged to her father, and she was captivated by words and images so vivid that she could almost taste the wonders they described. Smitten with what was tucked in the pages of that tome, Jacqueline began experimenting with baking tarts, cupcakes and doughnuts, all from scratch. She was in the kitchen, and she was in heaven.
When she grew up, however, she put that passion aside in favor of a steady paycheck and a job in IT. That lasted until 2016, when Jacqueline posed to her husband the idea of opening a bakery. They secured a location, signed a lease, and began renovations with his enthusiastic support. The couple opened the doors of I Knead Sugar, their sweet treat bakery in Gallup, New Mexico, in May 2017.
Although fed by a dream, business ownership is about reality, and I Knead Sugar nearly closed before it even opened. After spending hard-earned personal resources on renovations and build-out, Jacqueline realized they didn’t have enough money for the ingredients that would make the bakery thrive.
DreamSpring Receives More Money to Lend
The nonprofit lender DreamSpring has been awarded almost $5 million in Equitable Recovery Program grant funds from the U.S. Treasury to support small-business lending. The U.S. Treasury grant program is aimed at strengthening the ability of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) like DreamSpring to help low- and moderate-income communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and invest in long-term prosperity.
Continue readingHFFF Will Award Grants to Food Businesses
The Healthy Food Financing Fund (HFFF) is a new grant-based program that offers between $20,000 and $100,000 to New Mexico food enterprises. A new round of application acceptance is open from October 16 until November 13, 2023.
Continue readingJTIP Supports Job Training
The state’s Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP), one of the most generous in the country, funds classroom and on-the-job training for newly-created jobs in expanding or relocating businesses for up to 6 months. The program reimburses 50-75% of employee wages after all employee training has been completed.
Continue readingConference Highlights Automation Technology
Manufacturers and makers interested in exploring automation technology can attend the Advanced Manufacturing Summit on Thursday, March 30, 2023, at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. The event aims to introduce New Mexico’s businesses to Manufacturing 5.0 — the concepts and technologies that are increasing the competitive edge of U.S. manufacturing.
Continue readingNewest BizSprint Targets San Juan County
Arrowhead Center at New Mexico State University has added a Farmington-region BizSprint to its lineup of business accelerator programs. BizSprint San Juan is accepting applications until April 4, 2023, from entrepreneurs, owners, and team members of businesses in San Juan County.
Continue readingNew Mexico NetLinks Offers Connection Resources
Interested in professional networking, job information, or events that can grow your career or small business? New Mexico NetLinks brings them all together on one website.
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