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Hello friends. My name is Regine Terry, thank you for reading this. My company, Busy Baking is a Black woman-owned bakery in Los Angeles. We specialize in unique custom cakes and desserts for all occasions and have been in business for 4 years with a physical location in Hawthorne, California for the past 2 years.
In early 2020, we received shocking news. We were informed by City officials that the person we had hired to build out our kitchen hadn’t correctly pulled permits unbeknownst to us and that we would have to completely start over in order to fix the problem. Fixing the problem would have meant spending a minimum of $10,000 and since our lease was ending in 3 months, it didn’t make sense to proceed. We began the process of searching for a new location while remaining in our current location and had been so blessed with a very successful business and enormous loyal following.
In early March 2020, we found the perfect shop on Crenshaw! We completely analyzed our situation and the space to make sure it was the right move; we did our research, questioned, soul-searched, prayed and ultimately made the decision to take the space. We were thrilled! The day came to sign the lease and that morning, the entire city was put on quarantine and all non-essential businesses had to close immediately.
We collapsed! Not only did we lose all of our orders we had booked for the next 3 months, we also had to pause the signing the lease.
The last few months have been challenging for us, just like all small businesses. It’s been difficult to find supplies, the lines at restaurant supply stores and grocery stores have been crazy but thankfully, we’ve been able to hang on. We had found ourselves at a frightening crossroad. The end of our lease was quickly approaching without a new place to go.
Without the money to sign a new lease and not sure what to do next, we reached out to our Instagram followers for help and they came running! With so much community help we’ve been able to secure the Crenshaw location beginning in June. Rejoice!
We moved out of our Hawthorne location on June 30th and have been focused on getting the new shop up to code. We are literally starting over. Unfortunately, in the moving process we had to get rid of a lot equipment due to damage or not being up to code. Now we find ourselves having to build out this new location, get permits and having to replace equipment also.
We’ve applied for every grant possible and have been denied all the business loans we've applied for. We’ve contacted agencies to help us find funding with no luck.
We signed this lease with every bit of confidence that we can once again be successful. Rent will be due soon and we have a very small window to complete the build out. We’re are humbly asking the community to once again support us and provide the necessary funds to help us get the these final steps complete so we can open our shop. #smallbusinessrelief
From the bottom of our hearts,
Mrs. Re’Gine Terry
Owner
In early 2020, we received shocking news. We were informed by City officials that the person we had hired to build out our kitchen hadn’t correctly pulled permits unbeknownst to us and that we would have to completely start over in order to fix the problem. Fixing the problem would have meant spending a minimum of $10,000 and since our lease was ending in 3 months, it didn’t make sense to proceed. We began the process of searching for a new location while remaining in our current location and had been so blessed with a very successful business and enormous loyal following.
In early March 2020, we found the perfect shop on Crenshaw! We completely analyzed our situation and the space to make sure it was the right move; we did our research, questioned, soul-searched, prayed and ultimately made the decision to take the space. We were thrilled! The day came to sign the lease and that morning, the entire city was put on quarantine and all non-essential businesses had to close immediately.
We collapsed! Not only did we lose all of our orders we had booked for the next 3 months, we also had to pause the signing the lease.
The last few months have been challenging for us, just like all small businesses. It’s been difficult to find supplies, the lines at restaurant supply stores and grocery stores have been crazy but thankfully, we’ve been able to hang on. We had found ourselves at a frightening crossroad. The end of our lease was quickly approaching without a new place to go.
Without the money to sign a new lease and not sure what to do next, we reached out to our Instagram followers for help and they came running! With so much community help we’ve been able to secure the Crenshaw location beginning in June. Rejoice!
We moved out of our Hawthorne location on June 30th and have been focused on getting the new shop up to code. We are literally starting over. Unfortunately, in the moving process we had to get rid of a lot equipment due to damage or not being up to code. Now we find ourselves having to build out this new location, get permits and having to replace equipment also.
We’ve applied for every grant possible and have been denied all the business loans we've applied for. We’ve contacted agencies to help us find funding with no luck.
We signed this lease with every bit of confidence that we can once again be successful. Rent will be due soon and we have a very small window to complete the build out. We’re are humbly asking the community to once again support us and provide the necessary funds to help us get the these final steps complete so we can open our shop. #smallbusinessrelief
From the bottom of our hearts,
Mrs. Re’Gine Terry
Owner