the resilience of Small Businesses

Located here on Merritt Island, Just Cupcakin' Around has been serving baked delicacies to Brevard since 2016. Owner, Pamela Allen, started her business on a leap of faith, having worked as a baker in the restaurant industry for many years. She had grown up with a love for baking, always helping out in her grandmother's restaurant.

"I wanted to be just like my grandmother when I grew up," says Allen.

Like many small business owners, the pandemic had a big impact on Allen, but her situation was uniquely challenging since she had been running Just Cupcakin' Around largely on her own.

In early 2020 right before COVID hit, Allen had been working hard behind the scenes preparing a truck for her business that would allow her to better cater for large events. When prepping for her first event using the truck, a Saint Patrick's Day bash of three thousand people, she received devastating news. Only two days before the event she got a call from the event coordinator.

“She called me and said, Pam, they just canceled the entire world. I was like, 'what?' You know, because, two days before the event, you’re ready. You’re ready with all products made. You're ready to go do last-minute frosting on cupcakes,” said Allen.

The news was terrible, but what happened next was unimaginable.

“That same day, I got call after call, after call, canceling all the weddings, and birthday parties, and anniversaries that were all on my board for months in advance. It was cancel, cancel, cancel until I had nothing left,” said Allen.

With no events scheduled, a full inventory of products for a three thousand-person event, and a mandatory quarantine put in place, Allen was running out of options.

“I just dropped my arms, and I’m like, I’m getting ready to lose my business. I cannot even believe this," said Allen.

Allen had a pivotal moment on that day. She decided to turn that despair into resilience and came up with a plan. With her event truck newly finished and ready for business, she ordered a PA speaker and rode around her whole event's worth of cupcakes through neighborhoods like an ice cream truck; and it worked.

"When your business flatlines, and nobody is allowed out of their house, if you don’t have a way to get to them, how are they going to get to you?” said Allen.

This creative solution is what she credits for saving her from losing her business. The cupcake truck became a local phenomenon at the start of the pandemic, and Just Cupcakin' Around's interaction and exposure on Facebook blew up, which has helped the business to this day. However, what Allen didn't expect was the meaningful impact she could have on her local community.

“After the pandemic and everyone was allowed out of their homes, I had people coming in to thank me. And I said, thank me? For what? And they told me they wanted to thank me for breaking up the monotony in their homes; that they were getting so depressed because they were not allowed to leave their homes. But if they knew that we were in their neighborhood, they all jumped in their car and they went down every street looking for us, like we were the Easter Bunny or something... It was pretty cool, and I never thought that I was touching so many people with what I did to save my business. You know, I never realized how many lives I made so happy in that time of horrible news,” said Allen.

You can help support Just Cupcakin' Around in person at their location in Merritt Island, or by liking or leaving a review on their Facebook. You can also keep an eye out for one of the many Brevard food truck rallies -which feature Just Cupcakin' Around's signature event truck- for good food provided exclusively by local businesses.

Another business owner, Jordan Williams, started making jewelry with friends at Florida State University. Williams soon realized that she could grow her skills into a fully-fledged shop, and now runs Tangled Rose Boutique. This is a newer business in the local area, which has gained a following thanks to their unique selection of stylish women's clothing and handmade jewelry. The boutique has locations in downtown Melbourne, and more recently, in Cocoa Village.

The start of the pandemic was extremely disorienting for this shop since they were not equipped to maintain a business without the option of in-person shopping. The pandemic forced them to take action, update their website, and come up with new ways to stay afloat while everyone was stuck in their homes. Williams realized that to compete with other retailers, she needed to try something difficult: offering competitive delivery.

“Everybody was sitting at home, and getting on social media and, you know, if I wasn’t capturing their attention, then Amazon or Target was," said Williams.

After updating the catalog on their website, the boutique was able to meet the demand of customers by mobilizing their team to offer next-day shipping and successfully competed with larger retailers in the area, despite being a small business.

Alongside this feat, Williams also put intentional effort into capturing people's attention online through social media. Upon opening, the boutique struggled with getting people to notice their storefront since it was farther from the main walking area in downtown Melbourne. Utilizing social media has proven to be a powerful tool for getting people's eyes on the store, creating a following, and directly impacting in-person sales as well.

“[Social media], from the get-go, has been something that we've been able to see the pay off of immediately. You know, we post a try on video, and the next day, we have people coming in. So that is something that we are always prioritizing. And then especially with the pandemic, you know, people aren't able to try things on,” said Williams.

Although the changes brought by the pandemic were disorienting, Tangled Rose Boutique stayed alive by getting creative and working hard.

“We just basically had the option to sit there and hope for the best or we had the option to take the reins and do whatever we could to make sure that our sales didn’t suffer,” said Williams.

You can check out the boutique's Instagram @tangledroseboutique or visit tangledjewelry.com, their online store.

Last but not least, Elizabeth Fiegle always had a dream to open up a coffee shop, and now that dream is a reality. Fiegle runs River Road Coffee & Popsicles, a cozy cafe located in Cocoa Village, which has gained a reputation in the area for its handcrafted goods, and comfy artistic atmosphere.

The cafe had only been open for eight months before the pandemic shut down virtually every business. Adapting to this change was complicated, but Fiegle was surprised by the amount of support she received from the local community.

During the quarantine, River Road, as it is typically nick-named, could only allow staff inside the building during this time, and was only open through DoorDash and curbside pickup through a mobile ordering app called Odeko which focuses on local cafes. Despite these limitations, the business was able to stay open, and Fiegle credits this to the loving and constant support from her community.

"Overall, what I really saw through the pandemic... is that the [Brevard community] chose to keep us in business. They chose to come pick up coffee when we were just curbside. They chose to come grab a dozen popsicles with their family when they would go sit outside at the park to get out of their house. We saw that, really, our customers chose to keep us around, because, without them and their support, we would have closed," said Fiegle.

Despite the many advantages of online tools which helped River Road survive, Fiegle insists that the heart of the cafe is found in connecting with others in person.

"While we make great coffee and popsicles, and still [offer mobile ordering], to get the best experience here, I encourage people to come in, sit, and enjoy time here... I want the appeal to always be, 'Hey, I want to go sit in a coffee shop, connect with people.'... Not being on my phone, not being distracted by anything, but I truly want to sit over a cup of coffee… hang out with my family or talk with my friends," said Fiegle.

The atmosphere of the cafe also definitely compliments this goal, fully furnished with cushy couches, artsy decor, and chill music.

Another notable feature of River Road is the many other vendors and small businesses represented in their location, and it's no accident that everything is local.

"We, by being open, also help to support anywhere from ten local businesses each month, because we have local artists in here. All of our baked goods are from two local businesses, both women-owned. Our roaster is a local business. We try to keep it as local as possible," said Fiegle.

This is a very important issue to Fiegle. Supporting local is one of her passions, and she strongly believes in the importance of small businesses to the local community.

"That just puts, honestly, more money back into the community. It creates more jobs for our community, our neighbors, our kids... We all support one another. We all are very much so about, 'Hey, we rise together, it's not a competition of who can be the best, who can be on top.' We all want to succeed together, and that is something that I don't think you would find in a national brand or in a chain business," said Fiegle.

If you want to help support River Road Coffee & Popsicles you can check out their Instagram @riverroadcp or website and visit their location in Cocoa Village.

I encourage you to check out these small businesses. You're sure to find something you love. It’s important that we support the local community during these challenging times. It can be as easy as choosing a local snack, rather than ordering from a chain or looking for gifts and clothing from local places first, before racking up that list on Amazon. All of these things help, and the impact on your community can be far-reaching.