SBA recognized Kenosha coffee roaster and business center

The Wisconsin SBA has named East View Coffee Company “Emerging Small Business of the Year” and the Kenosha branch of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation as “Wisconsin Women’s Business Center of the Year.”

East View owner Jenny Ulbricht was nominated for this award by WWBIC's Kenosha branch for helping launch her new coffee tasting room Downtown and highlighting the role of local economic development organizations in building local businesses Did.

Ulbricht and WWBIC Regional Director Heather Lux met Thursday at the Eastview Tasting Room to discuss what the award means to businesses and nonprofits.

What started as a hobby for Ulbricht, roasting coffee beans, has grown into a full-fledged business built to reflect her values.

The restaurant doesn't accept tips, instead paying employees a “living wage,” with costs already built into menu prices. Ulbricht also sources her coffee beans from farms owned by women she has visited.

The recognition showed Eastview's “pushing the obvious” approach was “the right path,” she said.

“This is proof that we're doing something different than most coffee roasters and coffee shops,” Ulbricht said. “This is proof that what we are doing is what the community and the state of Wisconsin want.”

But getting a new location downtown required some help, and that's where the WWBIC Kenosha branch came into play. She said it was the WWBIC loan that made the new location financially possible.

WWBIC is an economic development organization for small businesses with a focus on women, people of color, low-income people, veterans, and military families.

Ulbricht praised the support the nonprofit gave her to get her business off the ground.

“It's a resource. It's someone in your corner. It's support, whether it's emotional or not,” Ulbricht said. “I've done so many challenging things in my life, but running this business is at the top of the list.”

Lux said Ulbricht “exemplifies what entrepreneurship is all about.”

WWBIC's goal is to remove barriers to starting a business, especially for people looking to start their own businesses, including women, people of color and veterans, Lux said.

Lux has worked in WWBIC's Kenosha office since 2008, and she joked that finding out about WWBIC was “mostly a mistake.” She grew up in Kenosha, and after graduating from Carthage College, she was informed by friends on the organization's advisory board that she was opening a Kenosha office.

“I wanted to make a move. I thought, 'I could do this for a couple of years,'” Lux said. “Fifteen years later, I'm here.”

WWBIC has five regional locations throughout Wisconsin. Lux said the Kenosha office alone serves more than 1,000 entrepreneurs and businesses a year, and that number jumps to 5,500 statewide.

“Our goal here is to provide education, access to capital and technical assistance to startups and existing businesses,” Lux said. “It's really about providing mentorship and connections to resources and making sure the business is on track with their plans and models.”

The award from the SBA is “really exciting” and “a huge honor,” Lux said, praising the hard work of the SBA team. The recognition also means increased visibility for WWBIC, Lux said.

Mr. Ulbricht and the WWBIC Kenosha branch will be recognized at a luncheon in Milwaukee as part of the National Small Business Week celebrations, which run from April 28 to May 4.