Grow Your Business: Live Q&A with the Founders of Harlem Biscuit Company

[Tom]

Hello Sellers — On April 6th, Melvin “Boots” Johnson and Warren Satchell, co-owners of Harlem Biscuit Company in New York City, hosted a Q&A on the topic of resiliency.

In March of 2020, Chef Melvin “Boots” Johnson couldn’t get unemployment benefits. “So I took my skills and just said, ‘Alright, I’m going to do something,’” he says. “And I started cooking fried chicken and biscuits, right out my garage.” His leap of faith turned into a leap of certainty. “Next thing you know I have 30 orders from moms that are just excited to not be cooking on a Friday night.”

That was the first unofficial day of Harlem Biscuit Company and since then they’ve sold over 7,000 biscuit sandwiches. Boots teamed up with his business partner Warren Satchell and together they are rapidly building their business, looking for a permanent brick-and-mortar location, and tackling any challenges that come their way. 

Boots and Warren talked about starting a new business, taking risks, connecting with the community, and managing quick growth. Read more about Harlem Biscuit Company, and other resilient business owners like them, in Square’s Stronger Than Before whitepaper.

[satchellwarren]

Will and Determination are the key to a resilient business!  We thankfully have a product that does most of the work for us but we still have to show up daily with a mindset to WIN! 

[Helen]

Well said! Thank you! 

[Tom]

Thank you for taking the time to share your story and answer questions here, Warren and Melvin! I had a couple of questions about how you formed your business:

@bootsbites, what compelled you to find a business partner vs. trying to do it all on your own?
@satchellwarren, how did you know this was something you wanted to be a part of?

[bootsbites]

Ive done this before for other people. So now it's time to do it for myself.

Im a chef. I can create and cook all day long and run a successful restaurant. But i knew i needed someone that could sell what was coming out of my head and also stop me when i needed to be stopped. Warren is a marketing Guru! The perfect partner. 

[galatheya]

How would you grow your social media presence in a highly competitive market?

[satchellwarren]

The best way to grow is to have someone do it for you. Someone intimately connected to your brand, the industry that you operate it and who can 100% focus on it. Running a business coupled with all of these additional platforms to manage is rather challenging. This is one thing that I would for sure say if you have the ability to outsource it, do so. If not carve out a strategy that you think you can maintain and let it happen organically just understand the build will be much, much slower. 

[GourmetOnWheels]

Would you be interested to open in the Los Angeles, South LA market?

[satchellwarren]

Absolutely!  #westcoastwarren is on the vision board. 

[GourmetOnWheels]

PM me or email me if you like [email protected]

[bootsbites]

Im from LA so to have a place there would be great. 

[GourmetOnWheels]

We are working on a place for creators in South LA

[LGF]

Question about the pop-up route: What are the pros and cons of using a pop-up model, and what would you recommend that fledgling food businesses look for in a brick-and-mortar partner? Is location more important that anything else?

[satchellwarren]

Location, Location, Location is key! But more importantly what's key is doing your homework! You have to understand the market as much as you understand your brand plus what you're building. Make sure you have done extensive research on the market globally and locally, the competition, the opportunity and what needs you are answering. 

[MAXSDELI]

Congratulations fellas, good on ya! 

So, being that this business was born out of necessity, what other items do you think would be a good fit for your brick and mortar and is it possible to collaborate with other local craftspeople to feature their items in your location?

[WhiteListed]

How can i have people buying from my business 🙂