Summary:
Welcome to the Startup Junkie’s Podcast!
Kim Bryden of Cureate joins our Startup Junkie hosts, Jeff, Caleb, and Davis to discuss shifting the dollar to Northwest Arkansas’ food and beverage industry. Whether it’s making a killer Bloody Mary, almost being in the FBI, running a grocery store, or having a massive heart for small businesses, Kim was beyond fascinating to learn from! Cureate will be NWA’s new best friend; listen to the whole episode to hear how!
Thanks for joining us!
Shownotes:
(1:06) Introducing Kim Bryden of Cureate
(8:43) Early Stages of Cureate
(11:51) Why Northwest Arkansas?
(19:06) Distribution End Goals & Co-Packers
(23:25) Staffing Hospitality Industry in 2021
(28:08) Consumer Demands Solution in NWA
(31:22) Kim’s Expectations of The Heartland
(50:57) Advice To Younger Self
(54:18) Wrap Up
Links:
Quotes:
“I’d like to work with people that, I don’t know, care about stable cashflow. Who actually build businesses that are of and from their communities.” (8:02) – Kim Bryden
“[It’s] that inflection point where they’ve done a thing for a certain period of time, and now they’re considering “What’s my next business development strategy, marketing strategy, sales strategy?” (9:29) – Kim Bryden
“I’m hoping and desiring that the small businesses that emerge from this time truly define what their mission is and what values [they have] and what they stand for.” (24:48) – Kim Bryden
“The best businesses with the strongest cultures are going to attract the best people and everyone else will suffer.” (26:15) – Jeff Amerine
Shifting The Dollar to NWA Food and Beverage Industry with Kim Bryden of Cureate
“Every day we vote with our dollar.” (27:15) – Kim Bryden
The Startup Junkies had the opportunity to sit with Kim Bryden of Cureate this week, a company whose slogan, “scale thoughtfully and source locally,” has provided success for themselves and their community!
Cureate was created to shift the dollar back to Northwest Arkansas’ local community through building up a food and beverage industry to meet the consumer demand. Kim is Cureate’s CEO alongside an entrepreneurial expert, supply chain leader, reimagined retail strategist, speaker, and even a podcast host!
Tripping Into The Entrepreneurial World
After attending American University, studying marketing and Spanish, she intended to go into the arts industry. Cue the financial collapse of 2008. Unfortunately, her dreams as a museum curator were on hold. Still, a spontaneous run-in with a man in the alcoholic beverage regulation administration got her foot in the door doing licensing, temp permits, and imports of alcohol all over Washington D.C. As the twists and turns of life go, Kim would go from a potential job in the FBI, to a Whole Foods Career, to being part of a product that placed chefs in people’s homes. It was not long that she began to desire the fundamental economics and hard work of small businesses.
“I’d like to work with people that, I don’t know, care about stable cashflow. Who actually build businesses that are of and from their communities.” (8:02) – Kim Bryden
The Creation of Cureate
In the early stages, Cureate existed to bring the dollar back to local communities. Through entrepreneurial education, the goal is to empower a supply, to meet changing consumer demand. Clients look like farmers wanting to transition from farmer’s market to stores or food trucks wanting to get into catering. Cureate would be the educational and supplier assistance for these start-ups to get them to where THEY desire. Not every business has the same end goal, Cureate also helps businesses process what that will be. It’s all about giving these businesses the right empowerment to scale up.
“[It’s] that inflection point where they’ve done a thing for a certain period and now they’re considering “What’s my next business development strategy, marketing strategy, sales strategy?” (9:29) – Kim Bryden
Since it is no surprise that big business systems are set up to buy from other big businesses, the demand problem is solved through a proprietary procurement platform. Cureate becomes the master supplier of local goods then embeds them at food service locations such as universities, hospitals, convention centers, and sports arenas. By being the local purchasing team, the client only has to do that one order placement, and then Cureate pays out the small business. This would create an ecosystem that builds up the supplier to meet the demand of the searched-out channel opportunities.
“I’m hoping and desiring that the small businesses that emerge from this time truly define what their mission is and what values [they have] and what they stand for.” (24:48) – Kim Bryden
To Pivot, Or not to Pivot
“Especially in this stage of COVID times that we are in now, particularly in the hospitality industry, people don’t want to feel like cogs in the machine anymore and want agency and ownership of their time. And that often outweighs money.” (20:25) – Kim Bryden
As mentioned above, Kim was a part of the mass exodus of people working for big business. Many start-ups emerged during the pandemic, and Cureate wants to be another helping hand in getting them from the farmer’s market to wherever their final goal is.
A few months into the pandemic, many people encouraged Kim and Cureate to deviate from their original game plan. Not only were people encouraging it, but almost every business around was also doing it as well. Many of the companies who pivoted saw significant success, but Kim knew doing that would be deviating from the heart behind Cureate. She would be one of the few that would keep the same direction and willingly go down with the ship. The seemingly infinite halt of all the places their products would typically be bought by was going to be seen as just a pause to Cureate. The determination and resilience of that decision seemed to win out and has created a company and staff that can roll with the punches.
“In nature, there are death cycles and birth cycles. We are in a massive death cycle. It [Cureate] was not meant for this time. We were meant for the rebirth. And so I held onto that even though, you know, financially… real hard times, not gonna lie here.” (12:46) – Kim Bryden
… But Why Northwest Arkansas?
Although the hub began in D.C. Kim is excited that the second one will be situated right in the middle of Northwest Arkansas. Her experience road-tripping across the country and speaking to many different business workers made her come to the conclusion that NWA will be the perfect place for Cureate. We have referred to NWA as the place that Austin, Texas used to be and wants to be again; therefore Cureate will fit in perfectly!
“There’s this culture underneath the main industries that is growing… how might we create this culture and economy that is separate from the big industry here?” (36:29) – Kim Bryden
Keep your eye out for this business and for Kim; we are expecting BIG things out of them both! Startup Junkies are people who are afflicted with creating the next great products and services that are changing lives in America and worldwide.
For all our fellow Startup Junkies, stay tuned each week for yet another story of those breaking the norms and soaring to new heights. Want to learn more about our services?
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