Spotlight on HBRC Client: Hope Village

Friendswood’s Hope Village was affected by Hurricane Ike well before the storm made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast.  “It cost us $8,000 just to evacuate our residents in the days before the storm,” explained Sharon Proulx, Hope Village’s executive director.  Although the facility sustained some physical damage from wind and water, the real devastation was financial in nature. 

After a week without power or water, followed by another week of repairs and clean up, the departments of Hope Village that are run like a business were not making any money for the non-profit.  “No one came to eat at the café, and there were no customers for the gift shop or the resale shop,” said Robert Hollins, who manages the eatery and retail operations.  “We were out of commission for at least six weeks.” 

To make things worse, a major fundraiser for Hope Village had been scheduled for the Saturday that Ike struck.  “Of course, our fundraising opportunity was gone.  We had hoped to net at least $40,000, and there was no way to make up that loss,” Proulx said.  Hope Village, a non-profit that provides residential and support services to children and adults with intellectual disabilities, employs 48 people and has an annual operating budget of two million dollars--half of which comes from fundraising activities.

While coping with the aftermath of Ike, and trying to regain lost economic ground by engaging with the community, Hope Village’s staff began looking for new ways to improve the bottom line.  “We attended a free financial seminar hosted by the Hurricane Business Recovery Center.  The content of the talk was great.  Even more importantly, though, we learned that we could get business consulting, at no cost.  It has been a fantastic solution for us.  We really needed HBRC’s help to see what some of our options were,” stated Proulx.

Consultant Doug Baumann, HBRC’s retail merchandising expert, has been working with Hope Village to rethink the way the resale shop operates.  “We revisited the organization of the stock room, the layout of the selling floor, and the rotation of the product assortment.  Robert’s challenge now is to get shoppers to spend more money on each visit,” Baumann explained.  “We are very pleased with Doug’s work,” added Hollins.  “He helped us take a look at what we were doing, and helped us change some things that will help us grow and be more profitable.  We are looking forward to a long term relationship with the Hurricane Business Recovery Center.” 

That relationship will include some branding and marketing consulting that will help Hope Village launch a line of spa products that are available for purchase at the gift shop.  Hand crafted by the Village’s residents, the assortment of lotions and soaps represents a way to keep customers coming back for more.  “Spa products are very popular, and make great gifts.  Working with HBRC, we hope to create some real demand for these items, and then watch it help our revenue stream,” explained Hollins. 
For more information on Hope Village, go to www.hope-village.com.  To see how HBRC can help your business, go to www.hbrc.uh.edu. 



Spotlight on HBRC Client: Chopin Mon Ami, Inc


“The University of Houston Hurricane Business Recovery Center saved our restaurant,” proclaimed a smiling Todd Schott, looking around the dining room of Chopin, Mon Ami after serving customers during the lunch rush.  “Really…if you’re a small business owner, and you aren’t taking advantage of the HBRC’s free services, you’re losing out.” 

Schott’s current success in business has been hard won.  In 2007, he and Judy Elmendorf, his business partner and mother, established Chopin, Mon Ami, a bakery and catering business located in Galveston, Texas.  In February of 2008, a fire spread from a neighboring building, and destroyed Chopin, Mon Ami.  “It burned to the ground.  There was not much left,” recalled Elmendorf.  Insurance covered the loss, and they were able to rebuild at a new location on 39th Street.  They re-opened in May of 2008.  What seemed like a new beginning soon came to a halt on September 11, 2008, when Hurricane Ike put 40 inches of water in their building, and destroyed much of the island. 

With no flood insurance to help rebuild from this disaster, and no catering customer base left, Schott and Elmendorf decided the only way to move forward was to try to make a business out of feeding the workers who came to the island to rebuild it.  There were no venues open for events, and their biggest customer, UTMB, was shuttered indefinitely.  “We had to refund deposits on wedding cakes, receptions and other events for all of 2009,” explained Schott.   Elmendorf added, “So we focused on being a restaurant until catering became a viable business again.” 

Once the rebuilding efforts in Galveston had peaked, Schott realized the need to re-evaluate the marketing ideas for Chopin, Mon Ami.  Responding to an ad for the Hurricane Business Recovery Center (HBRC) in the Galveston County Daily News, Schott called to schedule an appointment with a business consultant.  “I am so pleased with the services we received from HBRC.  Doug Baumann, our consultant, is very pleasant to work with, and he is a wealth of information.  He has been very responsive, and available,” said Schott.  “Everyone has been great.  We worked with Brandesha Omoniyi on some cash flow and accounting ideas, and that has been very helpful.  We have also benefited from the free seminars HBRC offers.  I learned how to better manage the website, and it has really made a huge difference.” 

“I worked with Todd and Judy to develop a new marketing strategy.  First, we looked at research that was available through our network’s business library.  Then we brainstormed and created a very practical marketing approach,” explained Baumann, HBRC’s retail marketing expert.  “Todd and Judy have worked diligently, processing new ideas and then implementing them.” 

The hard work has paid off.  “We’ve seen a twenty percent increase in the restaurant’s revenue, thanks to the HBRC team,” said Elmendorf.  Chopin, Mon Ami’s owners are continuing to find ways to improve their business skills and use the resources available through HBRC.  “We’re looking forward to working with the HBRC’s Quick Books Pro Advisor very soon.  We have to be able to keep up with the additional revenue!” Schott explained. 


Spotlight on HBRC Client: Bab's Gift Express and Belly Button...A Kid's World


When Dawn Ratcliff and Kelli Simmons became the owners of both Bab’s Gift Express and Belly Button…A Kid’s World, they knew there would be a lot to learn.  They didn’t expect to have to learn so much, so very quickly.  “Two hurricanes, Gustav and Ike, certainly taught us about the reality of business ownership,” explained Kelli.  Added Dawn, “We knew there would be tough times, we just didn’t expect them to happen so fast after we got started!”

Dawn, a former administrative assistant, and Kelli, a former nail technician, had never owned or operated a business before acquiring the combination gift shop/ children’s wear boutique located at 2119 Nederland Avenue.  “We both have young children, and we both enjoyed shopping here, so when it came up for sale, we thought, ‘Why not?’ and went forward.  We signed all the papers in July of 2008,” recounted Dawn. Then came Gustav, in August, and Ike, in September.

Hurricane Gustav left Kelli and Dawn’s business without power and customers for a while, but it was Ike that really damaged the enterprise.  The owner of the building they rent repaired the roof damage and replaced the awnings that were ripped apart.  Their business insurance helped defray the cost of the inventory destroyed by the storm.  Once things were cleaned up, and the power was on, they needed merchandise to sell.  The only funding source available to them as they replaced their inventory was a personal credit card. 

“Very high interest rates on credit card debt made it almost impossible for them to get ahead,” explained business finance consultant Charles Capers, of the University of Houston Hurricane Business Recovery Center (HBRC).  Kelli and Dawn realized that they needed some advice after trying hard to make a profit after Hurricane Ike.  They contacted the Lamar Small Business Development Center in Beaumont.  Because of the storm-related damage, they were referred to the HBRC, a special project of the UH Small Business Development Center Network designed to help small business owners along the Texas Gulf Coast who were impacted by Hurricane Ike.

“We met with Charles and he explained that we needed to find the right lender who would allow us to restructure our debt and get out from under those credit card rates.  We also talked about lines of credit and working capital.  Charles was great to work with--he was friendly, and patient beyond the call of duty.  He was able to help us understand a lot of detailed paperwork, explained Kelli.  We would definitely recommend Charles and the services of HBRC to any small business owner.” 

Kelli and Dawn remain optimistic and hopeful for the future of their business.  “We had a good holiday season, and we are looking for things to get better as the economy gets stronger and people want to spend more. “