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Hutto staff reports 52 business visits and a new "Biz Thrive" retention program
Summary
City staff outlined the new Biz Thrive business retention and expansion program, reported 52 one-on-one business visits since October, a business directory of 431 entries, and marketing campaigns including a digital gift-card partnership.
City staff presented the Hutto Economic Development Corporation with the new Business Retention and Expansion program called "Biz Thrive," which aims to support local businesses through quarterly educational sessions, one-on-one visits and a directory tied to a customer-relationship-management system.
Emily Beatros, identified in the meeting as the business-resource specialist with the City of Hutto, told the board she has completed 52 one-on-one visits since starting in mid-October and has been populating a BlueDot CRM and public business directory that currently lists 431 businesses. Beatros said the EDC-funded quarterly events are intended to connect business owners to financing, workforce and regulatory resources and that the program's first event drew 14 attendees amid challenging weather.
Beatros outlined additional outreach programs: a partnership with a digital gift-card provider called Yifty that had 19 participating businesses after a recruitment push, a Shops-on-Saturday social campaign around the holiday shopping period, and a downtown promotional event called the Hippo Claws Crawl that included 17 participating businesses (15 official stops).
The presentation also noted workforce efforts. Beatros said staff has been working with a prospect called Project Maestro on workforce recruitment and that staff will coordinate with Temple College (TSCC) and Hutto ISD's CTE program to advertise jobs and participate in career events.
Why this matters: the program is intended to reduce business turnover, connect small businesses to funding and workforce resources, and provide a point of contact for new and existing enterprises. Staff asked for continued EDC support for marketing and outreach and said the EDC website will link to the BlueDot directory and outside resources such as SBDC and SCORE.
Board discussion and next steps: board members asked about attendee surveys and follow-up; Beatros said surveys were sent to attendees and panelists and that summarized feedback will be provided. The board asked staff to continue marketing the program across channels and to explore email/newsletter outreach in addition to social media. Several board members offered to support outreach and volunteer for business visits and events.
Attribution: all direct quotes and attributions in this item are to Emily Beatros (Business Resource Specialist) and to board members who asked questions, as recorded in the meeting transcript.
