What lessons can be learned about social entrepreneurship success from a coffee shop founder in a declining downtown in the US rust belt?

Launching her coffee shop in a declining downtown in the US rust belt in 2003, entrepreneur and young mom Jennifer Brogee thought that a well written business plan and a social mission was the path to success. After being denied funding, she soon realized the many challenges she would face as a young woman and mother in business. Social Entrepreneurship in the Rust Belt documents Jennifer’s 20-year business evolution from startup to exploring new paths beyond the coffee shop. A business model with tight margins and high overheads, Jennifer details how she navigated the Great Recession, COVID and how she juggled multiple careers.

A story of independence and interdependence, this book is ideal reading for students of Business and Entrepreneurship, Gender Studies, and Cultural Studies as well as entrepreneurs and small business managers.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Introduction
• Learning objectives
• 1 Entrepreneurship roots
  • Traits of an entrepreneur
  • Lima losers
• 2 Business as mission
  • Cabrini Green, Chicago, IL
  • Christian Community Development Association
• 3 Mom entrepreneur
  • Entrepreneur and a mom?
  • Writing the business plan
  • Choosing a property
  • A huge mom fail
  • Business proposal denied
• 4 Finding funding
  • Our original “investor” letter
  • A little help from our friends
  • Bootstrapping it
• 5 Growth
  • An early version of our menu
  • First day serving customers
  • Too many customers
  • April 27, 2003 (journal)
  • An unexpected development
  • Downtown Lima Assoc., Wed. November 12, 2003
    • The Jennifer story
    • In summary
• 6 The Great Recession
  • If you build it, they will 
come—maybe
  • September 2008
  • Great Recession lessons learned
• 7 Re-invention
  • Change in leadership
  • Now, a barista
• 8 Slowdown
  • The arrival of COVID-19
  • Surprising sources of revenue
  • May 14, 2020 (journal)
  • Next steps
• 9 Macroenvironment
• 10 Twentieth anniversary
  • Downtown Lima speech, 
March 2, 2023
• 11 Social mission
• Epilogue: 
Mistakes made, 
lessons learned
  • Lesson 1: Choose debt vs 
equity wisely
  • Lesson 2: Plan for cash flow
  • Lesson 3: Avoid credit cards
  • Lesson 4: Beware of overestimating market size
  • Lesson 5: Avoid copying the 
big brands
  • Lesson 5: Be honest about your social mission
  • Lesson 6: Stay on top of your financial statements
  • Lesson 7: Constantly 
measure profit
  • Lesson 8: Analyze your industry
  • Lesson 9: Work together with the community and the government
    • Four legs of a table = people 
and institutions
  • Lesson 10: Be honest 
and transparent
• Recommended activities and discussion questions
• Afterword
• Appendices
• References
• Recommended further reading
• Index

Jennifer Brogee MBA is an Assistant Professor of Business at University of Northwestern Ohio and Founder and CEO at The Meeting Place on Market.