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Dusty Biscuit Beignets - SOS Cargo Van Fund

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We could use your help to keep our dough rolling! (pun intended)

Hey y'all, this is Trey from Dusty Biscuit Beignets in Fort Worth. We are slingers of sweet and savory NOLA-style beignets and bring a little French Quarter to FunkyTown.

We've shared with many of you that The Dusty Biscuit needs your help, and the overwhelming show of support has been incredible. Many of you have suggested that we put our needs out more directly. Honestly, that is really hard for us to do, but there is one time-sensitive, tangible need that would make a difference - the DustMobile (our business's cargo van) needs a new transmission.

Not only does it get me (Trey) back and forth from our cafe, but it is also how we haul hundreds of pounds of flour and powdered sugar in each week. Currently, it is a bit difficult to shoehorn 50lb sacks of flour between our five kids in the family minivan, but they're troopers.

All funds will be used to get our stylin' and well-loved 2013 Ram Cargo Van back to hauling dough and turning heads. If we somehow blow that goal out of the water, any excess funds will be used to help with our current business and personal needs, with 10% going to local adoption and homeless charities.

NOTE: Please do not feel compelled to give if it is even the slightest burden. No one is immune to struggle these days, and we desire to be a blessing to our community.


For those looking for more information about our background and situation, here is a rundown from a recent social media post:

Well, y'all, this isn't fun to write - The Dusty Biscuit needs your help.
Many great places have shuttered lately, so we didn't want to stay quiet.

Short Story:
The snowball of struggle that has been building since 2020 has crept up on us. The business needs funds to grow, but the QCT needs a roof, food, and a bed. Tight budgets, tough economy, and costly surprises (like our cargo van transmission going out) have us stretched pretty tight.

The Full Tea:
FEB 2019 - The Dusty Biscuit is born as a teacher's side hustle. Our pop-ups are super popular and the party begins.
JAN 2020 - A huge opportunity opens up to go full -time in the Airstream. As a leap of faith, we jump in. Bliss and butterflies ensue.
MAR 2020 - COVID arrives. I think that could be it for us, but we kept swinging. Money is super tight. Y'all showed up and showed out, and while it wasn't pretty, we made it.
JULY 2020 - A hot tip leads us to secure a home at 411 S. Main. We take another leap of faith. The planning and funding process starts. Times are tough, but the future is bright.
DEC 2020 - COVID climate slows our progress and our Airstream contract ends. With fingers crossed, we jump hoping things will speed up.
JAN-OCT 2021 - Spoiler Alert: It wasn't quick. A myriad of factors (funding delays, family expenses, phys/mental health woes, loss of loved ones, construction costs/delays, side ventures like Rendon/TCU, and more) slow things down.
NOV 2021 and on - A miracle happens - we open 411 South Main! BUT, due to the above, we open with very little working capital. We're expert bootstrappers so we press on. Again, y'all show up and show out. We get accolades beyond our wildest dreams. Sales are solid, but even in good times, restaurants have razor thin margins. Add that to the need to provide for your family, and your struggle bus has four flat tires. We floated things with some short term capital loans, but that band-aid wasn't great.
JAN 2022- JULY 2022 - Revenue increases monthly and we have a record July. Pure awesomeness.
AUG-OCT 2022 - School starts and sales drop 30%. Weekends are busy, but weekdays are a struggle.
NOV 2022 - With lower sales/debts/costs of living draining our cashflow, here we are. While I look for a solution to our personal income, the business is in a pinch.

Your help:
- For most of you, the best way to help is to buy some beignets (if you'd like), put in a thanksgiving pre-order, maybe get some electronic gift cards (more physical ones coming soon), or just talk us up to your friends.
- For pie-in-the-sky sorta help, we are looking for funding to help us restructure debts and open up revenue, a benevolent billionaire investor, a passing of the hat, etc. We're not in any place to be choosers. If you have a Scrooge McDuck vault then let's talk.
- Ultimately, after some triage, the business can stand and thrive on its own if it isn't our family's main source of income. As our team is amazing and runs things like pros, I (Trey) am looking at options for jobs to help the business breathe. So, if anyone is looking for a former science teacher with religion and forensic science degrees who is pretty alright in the kitchen and digs grassroots marketing, then I. AM. YOUR. MAN.
All of this aside, we've got more sugar bread to sling and world beignet domination as our goal. But, we'd love your help getting over this bump in the road.

And here is a picture of our beignets just to make you happy/drool...


Thanks for listening, y'all!

Organizer

Trey Smith
Organizer
Fort Worth, TX

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