The Stand’s Road to Recovery

Antionette Watson is the owner of The Stand, a food stand located in Wilmington Delaware. She started her business several years ago and suffered severe loss during COVID-19.

In 2020 she was practically unable to operate as an outdoor food vendor. SBDC was able to assist her in securing federal funds from the CARES Act. Through several meetings it was determined that Antionette was losing a lot of money in her business due to her operating strategy. With the assistance of her SBDC Advisor, Antionette decided to focus on getting her books together, allowing her to improve her financial reporting and legal structure.

Antionette is now on the road to recovery and prepared to double her profit this spring season. As part of The Stand she wants to teach youth how to enter the food industry and how to manage and operate their business. This passion led her to securing a significant grant to provide work-force development to youth in Wilmington. She will be able to  hire six youth and two additional part-time employees to participate in her work-study program.

Antionette, jokingly says her students will learn the importance of managing and reporting financial transactions before they flip a burger.

Her overall frustration was simply not knowing what she needed to know. According to Antionette, “Ms. Audrey, my SBDC Advisor, helped me understand how to professionally run my business and that has made all the difference in the world”.