Empowering Culinary Entrepreneurs in Richmond

The Entrepreneur Empowerment Program supports Richmond, Virginia-based small business owners in the food and beverage industry as they grow. 

This program is a collaboration between Capital One, Culinary Concepts AB, Hatch, and Bridging Virginia to build a coordinated small business ecosystem in Central Virginia.

Capital One is supporting these entrepreneurs by offering resources such as grant funding.

Culinary Concepts AB offers training programs that aim to empower minority-owned and women-owned small businesses in the food and beverage industries. These programs are specifically designed to enhance their technical skills and provide access to resources within their local communities.

Hatch offers its members access to a shared commercial kitchen space, private food production suites, co-warehousing, and mentorship. 

Additionally, select founders in this cohort are working alongside Bridging Virginia, a non-profit community development loan fund that provides access to affordable capital and technical assistance for historically marginalized small business owners. 

Research from the Capital One Insights Center, with assistance from Mastercard, found that consumer spending at small businesses in four key districts in Richmond have recovered strongly since taking a 20% dip in spend volume in 2020 — nearly closing the gap with non-small businesses over the three years that followed. 

This research demonstrates the need for collaborations like the Entrepreneur Empowerment Program that offer a place-based approach and an ecosystem of support for small businesses to help them thrive. 

Many of Capital One’s efforts to support workforce development in the communities it serves are made possible through the Capital One Impact Initiative — a multi-year commitment that strives to catalyze economic growth in low- and moderate-income communities and close gaps in equity and opportunity.