CCE Mobile Food Truck members ‘Say Cheese Philadelphia’ was one amongst many vendors to participate in the May Fair. Families and eager teens patiently stood in two single file lines anticipating getting their hands on a freshly made specialty grilled cheese sandwich. The signature dish of the day was the ‘Brisket Cheessteak with a gouda horseradish sauce. Say Cheese Philadelphia is an up and coming family owned business specializing in grilled cheese. According to Say Cheese Philadelphia, owner Alan Krawitz, “we really love all that the CCE offers to it members; the customer service is exceptional and the commercial kitchens and storage is more than accommodating for what we do. We recommend it to other mobile food truckers if they are in need of a commissary”.

Students competed for best pastry dish, best traditional dish and best business plan.

This week, nine public high school students from TEC’s youth culinary program competed for top honors in culinary business at their end-of-year senior cooking competition. Each student competed for best dish and best business plan. Students were judged by Chefs Carl Reading from Drexel University, Nancy Kroll, who has a background with Steven Starr’s team, and Tom Delcamp from The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College.

Students competed in both food and pastry categories, and winners in each category received a $250 prize and a paid summer internship. In addition, the students each received a monogrammed chef jacket, chef-grade knives and a personal knife bag.

Trayvon Smith won first place in the food portion of the competition with his “Triple Threat Killer Seafood Cakes” and arugula salad. Robert Stanton won first place in the pastry portion of the competition for his spiced carrot cake with candied carrots and pistachios.

Spiced carrot cake with candied carrots and pistachios

Killer Seafood Cakes 

The culinary program is a collaboration with the School District of Philadelphia and Philadelphia Academies. Students will also participate in a financial literacy workshop and tour of the Wells Fargo Museum facilitated by Michelle Lawrence, Wells Fargo Senior Vice President. Students will receive a personal checking account seeded with a $50 gift upon completion of the workshop.

There are various legal responsibilities that as a business owner, you should be aware of, to protect your business and avoid costly penalties. Many of the steps involve filing forms and keeping records that you can take care of yourself. Even if you intend to consult an attorney, this workshop will provide you with information to help you navigate the complexities of business law.

We will have practicing lawyers on hand to provide information on:

• How to choose a legal entity for your business.
• How and why you would form a non-profit entity.
• How to buy a business or sell your business.
•  How to hire employees
• And more…….

The Legal Roundtable event will have tables focusing on a specific legal area, staffed by an attorney who specializes in that topic. Participants will have the opportunity to rotate to multiple tables and get relevant and up-to-date information from practicing legal experts.

Best of all…It’s FREE

Sign up today – space is limited!

For more information please visit their website: lesdamesphiladelphia.com

presented in conjunction with SCORE

Learn techniques to help you:

- Manage inventory
- Track business costs
- Generate invoices and purchase orders
- Manage accounts payable and receivables

Tuesday, April 23 and 30 (Two-part Series)
6pm – 8:30pm

 Cost: $30

Register Below:

presents

Follow the Money:

D.O.T. Financial Assistance for Small Business 

April 26th | 8:30am – 10:30am

Enjoy 2 Interactive Panels with:

Bonding Experts:     Jerry Vallery & Ellen Neylan

Lending Gurus:    Marla Hamilton & Vandell Hampton

Plus, access to supplier diversity experts, procurement officers and certification experts from Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey PennDOT, Amtrak, SEPTA & More….

The Enterprise Center
4548 Market Street | Philadelphia, PA 19139

 Space is limited. Register now.

Please see below for current and previous editions.

April 2013 

March 2013

For more information and to register for a start-up seminar contact Nafeesha Mays at nafeesham (at) theenterprisecenter (dot) com or (215) 895-4051.

2013 Monthly Start-Up Seminars 

Dates & Times:

10am – 12pm

Wednesday, June 5

3pm – 5pm

Wednesday, May 15

Wednesday, June 19

Start-Up Seminars to cover:

• The Enterprise Center and our services
• Access to Capital: Where and How can business owners get loans?
• Business Basics: What to think about when starting your business and the 3 C’s & 4 P’s of starting a business
• Licenses & Certifications
• Small Business Resources in Philadelphia

At that juncture in the late 80’s, she began collecting items to display once she retired.  During her travels, she was often the only Black female.  She began visiting Flea Markets, such as Jerry’s Corner through the early 90’s then, the climate began to change and she started to venture more in the South Street area and around the Prison on Fairmount Avenue with Dave’ Flea Market, as well as with the 6^th & South Street Antiques shop.

Upon her retiring, she wanted to purchase a building in West Philadelphia but was not getting a great response from realtors and the costs were somewhat extreme for what she wanted to spend.   So, she decided to look at Craig’s List and located the vacant and abandoned property she is now in.  The building needed numerous repairs and she and her partner who is an architect/carpenter, diligently decided to do the work themselves and went to work, repairing what was needed on the first floor and opened four years ago(August, 2013) at this location.

As a graduate of Widener University, Pat reiterated that “she is not the average shop on 60^th Street, and wants to provide antiques to the neighborhood, at an affordable price”.  She noted area residents have been extremely supportive to her efforts purchasing items such as a Howard Miller Grandfather Clock, Tiffany styled lamps, furnishings, crystal, china, pictures, costume jewelry, furs, Sunday gloves, etc. Her average price range is from $2.00 to $600.

I encourage “everyone” to drop by and shop a bit…at this diamond in the rough shop.