Spice Sisters are making major connections to help fuel their growth
The Spice Sisters create freshly made, versatile, condiments with whole, healthy ingredients, sharing their experiences with the food and flavors of many countries and cultures and encouraging folks “to the table” for easy-to-prepare, healthy food bursting with fresh, whole ingredients and exciting global flavors.
Spice Sisters Craft Condiments in Johnstown is growing in popularity thanks to the hard work, creativity, and tenacity of owners Margaret Brabham and Yasmeen Hasan. Now, the pair is working toward a goal to fuel more widespread growth of their spice mixes by scaling up production without sacrificing the quality their customers love. By making connections with local resources, they are on their way to achieving this goal.
“At the Alleghenies Marketplace event, we met a representative from PennTAP,” said Margaret. PennTAP is the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program at Penn State, a federal, state, and University partnership to stimulate statewide economic development. “Working with Amy Jorden (Technical Advisor at PennTAP) we applied for and received a grant and got connected to the Learning Factory at Penn State. She was so helpful,” she continued. The Learning Factory is part of Penn State’s College of Engineering and allows students to get hands-on experience working on industry-sponsored projects. Typically, the program costs $4,500, but the Spice Sisters were able to use their grant to cover the cost.
We’ll have excellent information from the Penn State Learning Factory students and the crowdfunding expertise of the Gannon students. It’s the perfect match. And the timing is ideal because we’ll be able to fulfill those Kickstarter orders for the holidays
According to Yasmeen, the students are helping to create a plan for scaling up the manufacturing process of their spice blends. “The goal is to scale up and semi-automate the process without losing quality,” she said. “The students will help to identify the various equipment we need and ways to even improve quality in the process. It’s all about finding the right equipment to get the right results.”
“The Penn State students have been amazing. We are so pleased with them and their work, including the coordinators and professors at the Learning Factory,” Margaret said. “Matt Parkinson is the director and Brian Zajac is the project coordinator working with the students. It’s a wonderful program.”
Once the students complete their work later this spring, the results will be married with another partnership the Spice Sisters have formed with the Innovation Beehive Network based in Erie. Since its inception in 2014, the Northwest Pennsylvania Innovation Beehive Network has worked to enhance business expansion and development in the Erie Area and beyond. The Beehive is made up of six grant- and donation-funded centers that collaborate to encourage business growth. The centers work together to form the Beehive Network, while each location operates in its specialized area of expertise. Erie County Public Library, Penn State Behrend, PennWest Edinboro, Gannon University, Mercyhurst University, and Allegheny College are each responsible for a specific service as part of the Beehive.
The Spice Sisters credit their persistence and a little divine intervention with helping them get connected to the Beehive. “I was researching Kickstarter campaigns and only found large marketing firms or DIY approaches,” Margaret said. “I narrowed my search to successful campaigns for small businesses in our area and found 5 campaigns nearby.” Then she did something that might be considered old-school: she looked them up and called them. “The fifth person I called returned my call and told us about the Beehive…that’s how God works,” Margaret said.
“At first, the Beehive said no because we aren’t located in Erie County,” Yasmeen said. “But they liked our story and wanted to start to expand outside of Northwest PA, so they took on our project.” She also acknowledged Kathy Roach, Entrepreneurial Manager at the Center for Business Ingenuity at Gannon University, for helping to bring them into the program. Gannon’s specialty within the Beehive is crowdfunding, and their students are working with the Spice Sisters.
“They have a professor who did crowdfunding successfully in the private sector and the students have done three successful projects,” Yasmeen said.
The Kickstarter will run this fall—currently, it’s planned from October 6 through November 6—to help fund the scale-up of their spice blend manufacturing. “We’ll have excellent information from the Penn State Learning Factory students and the crowdfunding expertise of the Gannon students. It’s the perfect match. And the timing is ideal because we’ll be able to fulfill those Kickstarter orders for the holidays,” Margaret said. “Everyone loves food gifts!”
Stay tuned to Startup Alleghenies for more information as the Kickstarter campaign gets underway!
Startup Alleghenies helps startup and emerging small businesses succeed by providing free coaching to entrepreneurs in Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset counties. To access personal, one-on-one support from a coach in your county, including guidance, resources, tools and networking opportunities, sign up at startupalleghenies.com.
