For John Meyer, it would have been inconceivable a year ago that his profits could go up while his sales were down. But that is exactly what happened at B.J.’s Market and Bakery as a result of Meyer’s involvement in the Chicago Urban League&rs
For John Meyer, it would have been inconceivable a year ago that his profits could go up while his sales were down. But that is exactly what happened at B.J.’s Market and Bakery as a result of Meyer’s involvement in the Chicago Urban League’s nextONE business acceleration program.
When Meyer entered the program nine months ago, sales at B.J.’s Market had fallen by nearly 10 percent, which isn’t unusual for a food service business in the current economy. His sales are still down, but his gross margins are up 20 percent. How can that be?
“Higher food costs and the minimum wage increase forced him to look at inefficiencies,” said Herb Henderson, part of a team of consultants at the Urban League’s Entrepreneurship Center who worked with Meyer and helped him identify ways to cut costs and improve his operating systems. “He looked at his business model and examined everything he did. If he didn’t have a financial rationale for it, he changed it.”
Henderson tells me that Meyer is on his way to franchising B.J.’s Market in 2010, a big, bold move for the longtime Chicago chef and restaurateur. Meyer’s success was among the standouts of the Urban League’s 2008- 2009 nextONE class of 15 high-growth entrepreneurs. Their successes are proof that small business owners – given the right tools and advice to survive the current economic storm – can actually grow and reach higher heights.
The Urban League’s second nextONE class will graduate this Friday after an intensive, nine-month program. These business men and women had to compete for the 15 coveted slots last year, and they put in the time because they were ready to take the next step to becoming successful. At the time, some of these entrepreneurs might not have guessed that within a few short months, some of them would be challenged to keep their doors open as the economy sank deeper and deeper into recession. So, nextONE, in a sense, became a lifeline to help them get through the rough patch.
But nextONE is about more than just surviving. The program was created to increase the number of high-growth businesses in the Black community and to help business owners create wealth that can be sustained as well as jobs in the Black community.
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