STARTUP
WHAT WE KNOW NOW The bagel boss, an interior architect and a serial entrepreneur share valuable business tips and wisdom By Rabbi yehoshua werde
The K-Factor is a podcast that I have the honor to host on behalf of CHYE (Crown Heights Young Entrepreneurs) in partnership with community news website COLlive.com. The K-Factor offers business wisdom that can help future business leaders to make the ”Keli” (vessel) so that they can grow their business aspirations. We picked three questions that would most benefit potential business owners, and collected answers from 3 interviews. If you are looking for advice, this is a great place to start! As you will read, there are very similar themes, which include pushing limits and going beyond your comfort zone. Many of the successful business owners interviewed in this series once had little to no experience in their current fields. This should inspire anyone to attempt to achieve their dreams! Berry Horowitz is the founder and proprietor of ”Bunch O Bagels,” an iconic bagel shop in Crown Heights. He also owned the now-defunct ”Fish Fish and Cannoli” on Empire Blvd.
WHAT DO YOU WISH SOMEONE TOLD YOU WHEN YOU WERE STARTING UP? ”Many people gave me a lot of advice when I started. If I had listened to all the general advice I got, I wouldn't be here today. For instance, many questioned our decision to be located on Troy Avenue. I would suggest making sure you have a specific person you trust and listen to them. The advice I got from the right people was a key factor. ”Another thing to remember is that once you venture into something new, you can't invest your entire life into it. You can't put your yiddishkeit or family on the shelf while you build your business. You need to continue to invest in all the areas of your life. I was grateful to be able to benefit from the investments I made in my life to my yiddishkeit and family, and that helped me balance it.” WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST BIG CHALLENGE? ”We were already heavily invested before we even had a bagel recipe. My father-in-law
was in the recording industry for 17 years. When I suggested the idea, he said, ”we can try this, why not?” We started jotting down some ideas. We then consulted with my father, who was in the mortgage business, and he gave some pointers because you need a good business plan and money. You need loans. There are programs out there that will help you prepare for what's ahead. ”We were introduced to David Bernstein, an old-school baker who was 3 generations deep in the bagel bakery world. He was about 85, and he was done teaching people how to make bagels. We were able to convince him, and he helped us develop our recipe. Finding the right plan and the right product is the hardest challenge. It’s important to know what you need to do, to do it right. For instance, David told us what equipment we needed to even start. Once we had what we needed he came in and worked with us. You can’t rush these things.” WHAT ARE SOME FEARS THAT YOU HAD TO OVERCOME? ”Making sure your product is
Kislev 5781 Edition 55 COLlive Magazine - Kislev 2020___Yossi --- Monday.indd 55
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