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Fruity Bubbles Cafe says $20,000 Urban League grant helped retain staff, fuels expansion plans
Summary
The owner of Fruity Bubbles Cafe told meeting participants that a $20,000 grant from the Urban League—s accelerator helped cover labor and working capital during the winter, allowed the business to keep most of its workforce, and is supporting plans to expand beyond its Village Green location.
The owner of Fruity Bubbles Cafe said in a meeting transcript that a $20,000 grant from the Urban League—s accelerator program helped the business retain most of its staff and cover working capital during a slow season.
The grant came through an Urban League accelerator called Restaurant Resilience, the owner said, and provided funds that were used "to pay our labor costs" and maintain operations through the winter. "So Urban League has been phenomenal to us. Having gone through the accelerator program, restaurant resilience, I got to learn a lot about building and running a restaurant. And as a result of the pitch, I was awarded $20,000 grant," the owner said.
The owner framed the business as a community anchor in Village Green in downtown Smyrna, saying Fruity Bubbles Cafe has become "that safe space, that go to location for a lot of the local youth and just families in the area." The cafe opened about three years after starting as an idea, the owner said: "3 years ago, we were just an idea. Now we've really come to fruition and have grown not only just with ourselves in the business, but also with the community as well."
Because the business also operates a mobile unit, the owner said Fruity Bubbles has been able to expand partnerships across the Atlanta metro area, participate in festivals and school events, and is exploring additional brick-and-mortar locations and partnerships, including potential opportunities near the BeltLine. "Moving forward, we would like to continue to scale. So we're looking for other locations as well to expand. We're already mobile, so we have a mobile unit, but we're also looking to do partnerships with other businesses and through other schools, potentially even at the BeltLine location," the owner said.
The owner said the cafe blends Caribbean and Asian tea traditions and noted family influences in the concept: "My mother's from Jamaica, my dad's from Antigua, so bringing the Caribbean influence together with an Asian traditional tea, we were always accustomed to having tea time in the afternoon. And so bringing those 2 cultures together, Fruity Bubbles Cafe was formed." The owner added that the Urban League funding was particularly helpful "during our slow season" to help with operating costs.
No formal action or vote is recorded in the transcript on the grant or the business—s expansion; the remarks appear as a statement by the business owner. The owner summarized outreach and visibility efforts: Fruity Bubbles Cafe is located in Village Green in downtown Smyrna "right off of Atlanta Road," maintains a mobile unit across the Atlanta metro area, and promotes the business on social media as "Fruity Bubbles Cafe."
