A Local Nonprofit Holds a Navy Pier Festival to Help Spotlight Food Vendors

Good food is just part of what makes a restaurant successful, something many would-be chefs and restaurant owners don’t always realize. Developing entrepreneurial skills is challenging, and additional folks living in underserved communities face additional obstacles folks are living in including access to capital and mentors.

Sunshine Enterprises, a local nonprofit based in Woodlawn, has been helping restaurant owners and other entrepreneurs running small businesses for eight years through an assortment of classes, pairing them with mentors, helping them find the right neighborhoods for their restaurants, and aiding them to navigate the often confusing world of permitting. Part of Sunshine’s mission is to “bring vacant storefronts back to life” says Sunshine’s Managing Director for Programs Laura Lane Taylor. Earlier this week, Sunshine assembled food vendors at Navy Pier for Taste of Sunshine, the first-ever showcase for 16 of its alums.

Tammie Wiliams of Baker Sister, a Beverly-based wholesale cookie company was one of those vendors.

Williams established Baker Sister in 2014, so it’s not a new business. However, Williams says she needed Sunshine’s help in launching an eShops using Amazing and Walmart. That’s where Sunshine’s guidance was crucial: “They provide us with attorneys and a lot of different services that we need in order to keep up the momentum or to open up new doors.”

For example, through networking, Williams was put in contact with reps at Wintrust Arena, home of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky. She’s hopeful that one day her products could be available at the McCormick Place sports stadium.

Social media marketing has become more important than ever, but those from marginalized communities don’t have as far as a reach. Sunshine helped Williams with that, too: “The marketing piece was paramount for me,” she says. “We needed that in the worst way.”

So Navy Pier provided Williams with a unique opportunity: “I know that Navy Pier is one of the most sought-after tourist venues in the world,” she says. “I’m looking to promote from that vantage point, both here in the city of Chicago, for those who don’t know me, even though we’re in grocery stores and all, but still, we can expand our footprint.”

Taylor talks about the need to strengthen local chambers and for more educational programs. For example, building permits and liquor licenses can be tricky.

“We need more academic programs like the ones that Sunshine is doing,” Taylor says. “We need it in multiple languages — we are offering it now in English and Spanish — but you need it in Polish — you need it in other languages.”

The group matches participants with coaches for guidance. If a particular skillset or knowledge base is needed beyond the coach’s purview, Sunshine’s help desk springs into action, tapping into the group’s network of business professionals.

Sunshine was founded in 2016, as part of Sunshine Gospel Ministries, which is affiliated with Moody Church. They’ve also helped Nestor Correa of Humita Express, a restaurant near the border of Irving Park and Avondale. Humita is one of only a handful of restaurants that serves Ecuadorian cuisine. The pandemic forced Correa to close his restaurant, and he turned to Sunshine for help. Correa says when he first opened in 2003, there were only three Ecuadorian restaurants in Chicago, but that number has since increased to 20. Many in the community ask him for advice, and it’s challenging running a restaurant and supporting other restaurant operators. Correa also has a food truck and bar.

“We are from Ecuador, and our mission is we are trying to introduce our cuisine in the city,” Correa says.

Humita is working to expand its menu by adding ceviche. Understanding food costs and accounting are ways Sunshine can help, but Correa is hopeful to open a larger restaurant, more like a cafe where he can serve an expanded menu, but he’s unsure of the location, and that’s where Sunshine has been helping.

In the past, Sunshine has held Shark Tank-like competitions for its participants. There’s a thorough application process for its Community Business Academy, a 36-hour boot camp.

“They need to show in their application that they have the wherewithal to carry out their particular vision, and they have to be able to make the time commitment to invest in their business model,” Taylor says.

Sunshine is fortunate to have backing from the city of Chicago and private funding.

“The small business ecosystem is there, but it needs to be strengthened, it needs to be connected in a much stronger way with the system that helps people get business with anchor institutions and certifications and sort of, you know, what the civic federations of the world are doing,” Taylor says.