When Baton Rouge entrepreneur and Sugarbelle owner Kasie Coleman recently took the field at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome during a timeout at the Bayou Classic football game, it was so loud that she never heard her name get called out as the top finisher of a business competition held in conjunction with the game.
“I heard them announce the second place winner, so I’m smiling and clapping for them, and then it gets really, really loud, and I guess they said my name, but I never even moved,” Coleman recalls.
She didn’t realize she’d won the competition until she was asked to take a quick photo with the other competitors and saw the oversized novelty check for $25,000 made out in her name.
|
|
|
“Marketing for sure,” Coleman says when asked what she plans to do with the money. “We’re doing good with word of mouth, but we could really use some professional marketing.”
Sugarbelle, which was founded by Coleman less than two years ago and sells baked goods ranging from Bundt cakes to praline brownies at its Plank Road location, was the top winner at the Capital One Bank Bayou Classic Business Challenge 2014 for businesses with annual revenue below $250,000. New Orleans-based Maple Street Patisserie won $25,000 in a category for businesses with annual revenues above $250,000 but below $1 million.
|
|
|
For Coleman, it was the first time she’d participated in a pitch competition. She had advanced to the finals after winning a regional competition held recently at Southern University, at which four local startups made the final competition. The final pitches were made the day before the Bayou Classic game, and the winners were announced on the field during the game.
Along with marketing, Coleman says she’ll use the prize money—which is unrestricted in its use—to further her distribution and expansion plans. Outside of the bakery at 5151 Plank Road, Sugarbelle products are currently only available at Tony’s Seafood, also located on Plank Road. Though Sugarbelle operated for about four months earlier this year from a location on Perkins Road, the building Coleman was leasing was ultimately sold and Sugarbelle had to vacate.
“I’m really trying to strategize and decide which markets would be right and how I can enter them,” she says. “I also have plans to work with the [LSU] Food Incubator, and I’m looking at trying to line up more distribution.” —Steve Sanoski for Daily Report