For Shani Jones, growing up Black in San Francisco meant a constant feeling of disconnection. Shani is the co-owner of Peaches Patties — the name comes from her mother, who is lovingly referred to as “Peaches” by friends and family. Shani’s company is one of the only Jamaican food purveyors in San Francisco. Jerk chicken, fried plantains, peas and rice, beef patties: These were the flavors of Shani’s childhood, but home felt like an island of sorts, in the middle of a city largely devoid of Caribbean community. “Even today, there’s not much of a Jamaican diaspora out here,” she says.
Shani opened Peaches Patties in 2012, operating her business out of her mother’s house. Since then, Peaches Patties has grown significantly and before COVID Shani was aspiring to open 8 locations throughout California as well as produce a frozen line for sale in grocery stores. Even though Shani is running a great business with a growing customer base, she couldn’t get the funding she needed to grow from traditional lenders, which is how she found PCV. We gave her a loan in early 2020, weeks before COVID really hit, to expand her business into a new production facility, with everything from a dough mixer, convection ovens, and capital to hire and train new employees. We also paired her with pro bono advisor Mike Seibert, an advisor at Yavapai College SBDC with expertise in strategic business and financial planning.
Peaches Patties offers transportation benefits to their employees and have been looking to add on healthcare benefits. “We’ve hired people that may not have received a chance based on their background, but they have leadership skills and a strong work ethic,” Shani says. “At Peaches Patties we believe in our employees and training them thoroughly about the catering industry and Jamaican food. Anyone that we hire we make sure that they are paid a good wage. This is important because it is expensive to live in the Bay Area and everyone should have a living wage.”
Shani is emblematic of small business owners working day in and day out across America’s Main Streets to keep their businesses thriving while creating good jobs that benefit local communities. Women of color account for 89% of the new businesses opened every day. Black women are 300% more likely to launch a new business than a white person, and Latinas are 180% more likely. We at PCV know that centering the capital and mentorship needs of entrepreneurs like Shani is essential for us to build forward better out of this crisis.
This is why we launched our Small Business Support Circle in the midst of the pandemic. Pacific Community Ventures is bringing together a rapidly growing coalition of companies and organizations invested in the success and resilience of small businesses across the United States. Companies like GoFundMe understand this need first hand.
“During 2020, fundraisers seeking donations for small businesses — previously a rarity — became commonplace: 3 of every 5 COVID-related fundraisers in the United States sought to support small businesses and their employees, with restaurants alone accounting for tens of thousands of fundraisers. After ebbing during the summer months, fundraisers for struggling restaurants spiked anew toward the end of the year. We are proud of the role that GoFundMe plays in connecting those in need with those who are ready to help,” stated Tim Cadogan, GoFundMe CEO in USA Today.
PCV is excited to welcome GoFundMe to our Small Business Support Circle with a $500,000 grant through GoFundMe.org to support our affordable loan and pro bono advising programs, and bringing GoFundMe employees to serve as volunteer advisers to help small businesses tap into skills and expertise they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. By doing this we’re helping businesses stay open safely, pivot, and create good jobs with fair wages and benefits that actually help businesses grow sustainably.
Members of the PCV Small Business Support Circle like GoFundMe are getting millions of dollars of free advice into the hands of job-creating small business owners by leveraging and scaling the unique BusinessAdvising.org pro bono advising platform to provide small businesses the support they need to survive and thrive, empowering workers, and the communities they serve nationwide. Read more about GoFundMe’s commitment to PCV in their recent blog post.
This week we’re marking one year of COVID lockdowns across our country. If you’re reading this and your company or organization isn’t yet a member of PCV’s Small Business Support Circle, we need you. We welcome you to join our Small Business Support Circle on March 25th at 3:30pm EST (12:30pm PST) to both commemorate one year since the first COVID lockdowns began, and celebrate the incredible hard work and stories of our small business owners through it all, with a special nod in honor of Women’s Herstory Month!
Please join us for a unique event with music, stories of resilience from our small business owners, and a committed community working to build forward better.
In Solidarity,
Bulbul Gupta
President & CEO, Pacific Community Ventures