SYRACUSE — The Taste of Honey, a family-owned catering company, captured the top prize of $5,000 in the KeyBank Business Boost & Build pitch competition. The local company prevailed over four other businesses in the event held Feb. 6 at SALTspace at 103 Wyoming St. on Syracuse’s Near Westside. “I have a mobile school bus, […]
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SYRACUSE — The Taste of Honey, a family-owned catering company, captured the top prize of $5,000 in the KeyBank Business Boost & Build pitch competition.
The local company prevailed over four other businesses in the event held Feb. 6 at SALTspace at 103 Wyoming St. on Syracuse’s Near Westside.
“I have a mobile school bus, a yellow bus that’s located [at] the South Side Innovation Center,” says Stacey Bailey, CEO and head chef at the Taste of Honey, when asked how she plans to spend the prize money. “I plan on getting an architect to help me remodel the bus and make into a mobile restaurant.”
Bailey spoke with CNYBJ after the pitch event.
The runner-up companies — Razzle Dazzle Italian Ices, Miss Prissy’s Catering, Eco-Baggeez, and Chocola Te’ — were each awarded $500 for their efforts.
Besides the Taste of Honey’s Bailey, runner-up finalists competing in the pitch competition included Maggie Levy of Razzle Dazzle Italian Ices, Dreamer Glen-Johnson of Miss Prissy’s Catering, Elizabeth Race of Eco-Bageez, and Belangie Perez of Chocala Te`.
About The Taste of Honey
The Taste of Honey started in January 2019. The company is based out of Bailey’s home, where she maintains her office.
“I’m a catering company, and I offer international cuisine to local nonprofit organizations and corporations as well as for events [with guest counts between] two and 200,” says Bailey.
The business rents space for cooking at the Syracuse CoKitchen at 811 Catawba St. on the city’s North Side.
Bailey’s husband, Etienne Green, is general manager of The Taste of Honey and also handles its advertising. Bailey’s daughter, Jasmine Bailey, is her executive assistant who takes all the phone calls and handles scheduling when Stacey Bailey isn’t available. And her twin children, Brendan and Bre-Ann, serve as the company’s service, preparation, and cleanup staff.
“It’s a family-owned business,” says Bailey.
The City of Syracuse has certified the company as a Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) and Bailey is currently pursuing the New York certification as well.
Bailey moved to Syracuse from the Harlem area of New York City in 2008, citing “violence” in her area as the reason for the move.
The pitch event
The KeyBank Business Boost & Build Program, powered by Cleveland, Ohio–based JumpStart, sought to “highlight opportunities for small business owners in the food service industry and encourage local collaboration,” KeyBank said in a news release about the event.
“Entrepreneurship and small business, in particular, help communities grow and thrive, especially in the inner city where we have diverse cultures and different backgrounds,” says Stephen Fournier, Central New York market president for KeyBank. “We know if we can enable business to thrive in our communities, it’s going to help KeyBank thrive.”
Fournier spoke with CNYBJ after the pitch event.
JumpStart Inc. provides investment capital and “intensive, high-impact” assistance to a diverse range of entrepreneurs and small-businesses owners … “helping them grow their companies, generate returns for their investors and create wealth and jobs for their communities,” per its Linkedin page.
JumpStart prides itself on its pitch competitions and wanted to bring that expertise here to upstate New York, says Tamika Otis, director of the KeyBank Business Boost & Build program in New York.
“Small-business owners traditionally do not have this opportunity to pitch their business,” says Otis tells CNYBJ.
Otis says she brought the expertise from JumpStart and helped to coach and mentor the companies involved, along with CenterState CEO and the South Side Innovation Center.
“They nominated the clients that they’ve been working with for over a year to begin this pitch competition and then we together trained them and got them ready and put on this pitch event,” says Otis.
C.U.S.E. Collaborative presented the event. C.U.S.E. Collaborative includes CenterState CEO, South Side Innovation Center, WISE Women’s Business Center, and the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA).