Over the past few months, Raquel and Tom have been facilitating the Kauffman FasTrac. This entrepreneurship program is meant to help individuals build on their ideas to launch or grow a business. Each week looks at specific topics faced by business owners including identifying their customers, solidifying their pricing, honing their pitch, and more. While more information about this program--including when we'll host it again--will be coming out in the next few weeks, this blog is going to focus on another entrepreneur that helped us during this class.

Funding for this program was provided by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. That meant that we could do more for our participants than just providing content. We could feed them. We were able to host classes in two ways. First, a group of participants chose to meet on Tuesdays during lunch hour. Second, a group chose to meet virtually on Tuesday evenings. This ensured that we could accommodate their needs and their schedules, but the lunch crowd needed to eat. After all, these entrepreneurs were either working another job, or they were busy trying to launch a business. Grabbing food on the way or skipping a meal weren't the best options.

We had several local restaurants support these efforts but one in particular was a standout: the deli on US 83 called 5150. Sam--the owner--provided several options throughout the course including cobb salads one week and charcuterie boxes another. Her meals were the perfect size for our participants, and they provided great food without putting us to sleep! It's so nice to have options like this when looking for places to eat and places that cater. Liberal is fortunate that we do have so many restaurants to choose from. If you haven't tried it yet, I highly recommend 5150.