BINGHAMTON — Leighton Blackwood already had one successful food venture under his belt — the 2nd Heaven bubble tea store in the Marketplace at Binghamton University — and was looking to open another business when he came across the opportunity to purchase Chroma Café & Bakery. So, just three years after graduating from Binghamton University […]
BINGHAMTON — Leighton Blackwood already had one successful food venture under his belt — the 2nd Heaven bubble tea store in the Marketplace at Binghamton University — and was looking to open another business when he came across the opportunity to purchase Chroma Café & Bakery.
So, just three years after graduating from Binghamton University and opening his bubble tea shop, Blackwood took over Chroma, which he reopened this past July.
“It was perfect because it was turnkey,” he says of the café, located at 97 Court St. He had looked at a few sites around Binghamton before coming across the Chroma opportunity.
Blackwood hasn’t been going it alone though. Along with support — and recipes — from the previous owners, he is also a member of the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator, where he receives mentorship and participates in entrepreneurship programming, and utilized the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), located within the incubator.
Koffman and the SBDC helped Blackwood navigate issues like getting his business and sales-tax licenses as well as his health permit.
“It seems really daunting in the beginning,” he says of the business process.
Blackwood was familiar with the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator because his first college job was at a startup company that launched at the incubator. During his time there, he got to know Eric Krohn, director of business incubation programming.
When he first had the idea for 2nd Heaven, he went to his mentor Krohn for help, and “the rest is history.” Blackwood says.
Running Chroma is just a bit different than a bubble tea shop, he acknowledges. The café serves an array of sandwiches, while the bakery offers bread, cookies, pastries, cinnamon rolls, conchas, and custom orders. It wholesales pastries and breads to Binghamton University, providing a nice stable base income, Blackwood says.
The café and tea shop also cross-sell, with the café offering bubble teas and the tea shop selling pastries from Chroma.
Blackwood employs three bakers, one barista, and one cook at the café, and between 15 and 17 part-time student employees at the bubble tea shop.
“This is just the beginning,” he says. He hopes to expand the café menu soon, as well as launch at the farmer’s market in January, providing another location for people to grab some Chroma breads and pastries.
