Roaming Hunger is an organization dedicated to helping people find the perfect local food truck wherever they are in the United States. Roaming Hunger also provides expert advice and access to a wide-ranging network, for entrepreneurs looking to start or grow their own mobile food business. In addition to practical advice about how to build a food truck, these entrepreneurs often stand to gain from financial resources that fit their small business needs.
Given our shared interest in enabling these entrepreneurs to grow their business, Kiva collaborated with Roaming Hunger on an article to discuss how and when Kiva might be a good fit for food truck entrepreneurs. To illustrate when Kiva may support entrepreneurs, the post relays the stories of two small businesses: Drums & Crumbs and Cool Hope Ice Cream. Read on to get a flavor for the article, or go to Roaming Hunger to read the full post.
This post is an updated version of the original post from January 26th, 2017.
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Drums & Crumbs is a Bay Area catering company and food truck specializing in Southern fried chicken. The founders, Rachel and Arthur, turned to Kiva when the build-out of their food truck took longer than expected and additional costs, on top of delayed income, started to add up. Arthur and Rachel raised $5,000 with Kiva to cover working capital and expenses for their first six months of operation. Arthur recently said in an interview:
I would encourage any small business owner about to launch a business in food or other industries to look into Kiva, as it is a really great way to raise money through your community for working capital.
At Cool Hope Ice Cream, Maria and Tichin are busy concocting inventive ways of bringing traditional Puerto Rican flavours into ice creams, including Tembleque ice cream, a mix of coconut-milk and cinnamon, based on a Christmas dessert of the same name. Maria describes facing early food truck funding requirements: "I encountered a few challenges to gather the funds necessary to expand my food truck's kitchen and modernize the interior design of the truck."
Maria and Tichin joined a local organization called Food Truck Republic. Maria expressed her gratitude towards this group of food truck owners: "We felt lucky to have found a place in such a closeknit community. As part of the support given by Food Truck Republic, they introduced us to the wonders of Kiva!" Maria recalls this introduction as a timely intervention in an otherwise challenging market:
In a time where personal and business loans are at a low in terms of approval, Kiva came into our lives. Now what seemed like a strenuous process became a family activity.
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Though securing financing for small businesses is a challenge, there are resources available. Success stories from entrepreneurs like Arthur and Rachel and Maria and Tichin demonstrate that it's possible to build a thriving business and share your passion with those around you, whether it's fried chicken or innovative ice cream! Go to the Roaming Hunger article to read a more detailed account of how Drums & Crumbs and Cool Hope Ice Cream are making use of the resources available and growing their business. You'll also find some pointers on whether a Kiva loan is right for you, as well as the 6 key factors driving the quality of your Kiva application.