Creating community: The small business landscape in Battle Creek

Few people will describe the big box store located off their local expressway as what they most love about where they live. What they are more likely to highlight are the unique small businesses in their community, whether they are a go-to local shop or favorite hangout, that they can’t find anywhere else.

Residents of Battle Creek, Mich. are likely to tell you how they enjoy drinking a cup of specialty coffee at Café Rica or browsing the shelves for locally made goods at the boutique-style public market Bread & Basket Marketplace.

“Small businesses create a strong, vibrant community where people want to grow up, live and thrive,” says Jamie Schriner, a program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation focused on community economic development.

Established in 2016 as an online reseller of coffee from Costa Rica – an homage to co-founders Tristan and Jackson Bredehoft’s mother, who hails from the country, Café Rica has grown to become one of Battle Creek’s favorite spots where community members gather for homemade baked goods, sandwiches and salads and – of course – fresh coffee. Only a few blocks away from Café Rica is Bread & Basket Marketplace, where founder Tiffany Blackman curates products like specialty foods, candles and self-care products from small business brands, with an emphasis on stocking products from other local and minority-owned brands.  

These entrepreneurs and their small businesses are reinvigorating downtown Battle Creek as a destination to live and work.

What’s particularly special about the small business community in Battle Creek is how these entrepreneurs uplift one another, offering community, connection and culture. As Blackman says, we “invest back into our community, create jobs and are deeply concerned with the landscape of our city and how we show up in service to others.”

Tristan Bredehoft describes how Café Rica intentionally supports other local businesses, artists and musicians. In collaboration with local partners Color the Creek, Breaking Bred and Arts & Culture Collective of Battle Creek, each quarter, Café Rica hosts “Que Calor,” an art show spotlighting local Michigan artists, complete with DJ sets, food and drinks.

And in the summer, Café Rica hosts the Breaking Bred Bazaar, an open-air market in downtown Battle Creek for entrepreneurs to sell their goods, without having to commit to a full-time space.

“We want to make the city a better place by creating a space for people to gather, where they aren’t judged based on socioeconomic status, sexuality, race, religion, you name it. Café Rica is a safe place for all,” says Bredehoft.

For her part, Blackman makes sure that the dollars earned at Bread & Basket Marketplace are reinvested in the community, remarking that since opening in 2021, Bread & Basket has contributed nearly $25,000 annually into the infrastructure of Downtown Battle Creek.

“Our business has invested in 100 small business brands, 40% of which are minority-owned, and many of which are here in Michigan,” says Blackman.

For both the Bredehofts and Blackman, and many other business owners in the community, giving back and perpetuating the success of others is fundamental to their business ethos, as they trace their success to community resources and support they, too, sought out and benefited from.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is proud to have helped make possible several programs offered to aspiring small business owners in Battle Creek, including ones in which the Bredehofts and Blackman participated.

With a $1 million kickoff investment in 2018, the foundation established the Battle Creek Small Business Loan Fund, managed by Northern Initiatives, to provide aspiring entrepreneurs access to capital, with a focus on reaching women and people of color. Since its inception, the foundation has invested more than $4 million, and the fund has loaned nearly $4.2 million to 38 small businesses in Battle Creek, of which 21 are owned by women and people of color. As of the end of May 2024, there were $1.3 million in loans in the pipeline.

And for entrepreneurs whose financial circumstances mean they struggle to meet their basic needs, Northern Initiatives provides grants of up to $5,000. Recognizing that entrepreneurs require technical expertise, as well as financing, to bring their business ideas to life, Northern Initiatives, with support from the foundation, provides a free 10-week training program that helps them to identify their target audience, determine the best legal structure for their business, develop marketing strategies and ultimately create a business plan.

Northern Initiatives has been a core part of the Bredehofts and Blackman’s small business ownership journey, with the organization providing the support the Bredehofts needed to launch Café Rica, and Blackman having sub-contracted as a trainer and small business coach to entrepreneurs participating in the 10-week program.

The foundation also partners with the City of Battle Creek and its Small Business Development Office, providing a series of grants that streamline the process of opening and running a small business – from creating a website with guidance on how to open a small business, to offering translation services to small business owners and helping them pay for licenses, repairs and updates for physical spaces.

The foundation also hosts quarterly entrepreneurial support organization meetings, where it works with partners like Grand Valley State University and community-based organizations like Voces and the Burma Center to ensure community members of all backgrounds can learn about – and access – the resources available to them.

Taken together, these investments amount to a comprehensive small business support system in Battle Creek, which Bredehoft credits as “finding ways to support small businesses where they are at.”

“We’re creating a local ecosystem of support where anyone who wishes to open a small business can do so,” Schriner says.

Small businesses now employ 35% of Battle Creek’s 50,000 residents and have helped drive a transformation of the city itself.

“A lot has changed since we started in downtown Battle Creek,” reflects Bredehoft. Where he once saw vacant storefronts, empty apartment buildings and few restaurants in 2018, he now sees community members living, shopping and mingling downtown.

But the continued vibrancy of Battle Creek’s small business sector – and the city itself – requires continuous nurturing. Partners have to keep asking local entrepreneurs what barriers still remain and imagine what partnerships across community-based organizations and local leaders could provide the resources necessary to break them down, one-by-one. It will require continued investment and resources from the entire small business support system in Battle Creek.

“We must grow together,” says Blackman.