“The mission of SyracuseFirst is to educate the community about the importance of buying local and supporting local and independently-owned businesses in our community,” Shannon Fults, strategic programs and events coordinator, tells CNYBJ in an email. 

Before joining CenterState CEO as an organizational partner, SyracuseFirst functioned as a member-based organization, Fults notes. Now, as a program of CenterState CEO, it has a formal steering committee that includes local member businesses who “ensure it provides highly targeted support” for local businesses through the development of programs and events.

SyracuseFirst organizes the Buy Local Bash, which is held in November. It’s described as a “social, shopping and tasting event” that features locally owned, independent businesses of Central New York. 

The Buy Local Bash helps to “spread awareness and support for SyracuseFirst’s mission of educating the community about the importance of buying local while also kicking off Buy Local Month, an effort to increase support for local independent businesses during the holiday season,” Fults contended in the email message.

Besides the Buy Local Bash, SyracuseFirst also organized a few other events in 2019. They included a “Morning Meet Up” at Café Kubal, where people could gather over coffee to network and a “Lunch Mob” at Kitty Hoynes to “drive traffic in to the restaurant and allow for an atmosphere to network,” according to Fults. 

SyracuseFirst will continue to work with its steering committee to develop new programs that it will promote to CenterState CEO members and “specifically to those interested in SyracuseFirst.” 

Fults adds that SyracuseFirst is planning a training and education session on podcasting in late March.

Partnership history

CenterState CEO announced it had acquired SyracuseFirst in July 2017 after the two organizations had collaborated for “more than five years.” 

At the time, CenterState CEO said SyracuseFirst executive director Chris Fowler had “stepped aside.” Fowler was running for Syracuse mayor that summer. 

Founded in 2009, SyracuseFirst says its “mission is to create a thriving local economy by maximizing the potential of local businesses, and transferring market share from non-locally owned businesses to local independently owned businesses.”

SyracuseFirst and CenterState CEO in 2012 formed a legal partnership to “advance their shared goals of supporting” small and locally owned independent businesses. 

Under the original agreement, CenterState CEO licensed the SyracuseFirst brand, keeping it a separate membership-based entity. CenterState CEO, in return, provided “significant” programmatic and administrative support to SyracuseFirst. 

SYRACUSE — The Taste of Honey, a family-owned catering company, captured the top prize of $5,000 in the KeyBank Business Boost & Build pitch competition.

The local company prevailed over four other businesses in the event held Feb. 6 at SALTspace at 103 Wyoming St. on Syracuse’s Near Westside.

“I have a mobile school bus, a yellow bus that’s located [at] the South Side Innovation Center,” says Stacey Bailey, CEO and head chef at the Taste of Honey, when asked how she plans to spend the prize money. “I plan on getting an architect to help me remodel the bus and make into a mobile restaurant.” 

Bailey spoke with CNYBJ after the pitch event.

The runner-up companies — Razzle Dazzle Italian Ices, Miss Prissy’s Catering, Eco-Baggeez, and Chocola Te’ — were each awarded $500 for their efforts.

Besides the Taste of Honey’s Bailey, runner-up finalists competing in the pitch competition included Maggie Levy of Razzle Dazzle Italian Ices, Dreamer Glen-Johnson of Miss Prissy’s Catering, Elizabeth Race of Eco-Bageez, and Belangie Perez of Chocala Te`. 

About The Taste of Honey

The Taste of Honey started in January 2019. The company is based out of Bailey’s home, where she maintains her office. 

“I’m a catering company, and I offer international cuisine to local nonprofit organizations and corporations as well as for events [with guest counts between] two and 200,” says Bailey.

The business rents space for cooking at the Syracuse CoKitchen at 811 Catawba St. on the city’s North Side. 

Bailey’s husband, Etienne Green, is general manager of The Taste of Honey and also handles its advertising. Bailey’s daughter, Jasmine Bailey, is her executive assistant who takes all the phone calls and handles scheduling when Stacey Bailey isn’t available. And her twin children, Brendan and Bre-Ann, serve as the company’s service, preparation, and cleanup staff. 

“It’s a family-owned business,” says Bailey. 

The City of Syracuse has certified the company as a Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) and Bailey is currently pursuing the New York certification as well. 

Bailey moved to Syracuse from the Harlem area of New York City in 2008, citing “violence” in her area as the reason for the move.

The pitch event

The KeyBank Business Boost & Build Program, powered by Cleveland, Ohio–based JumpStart, sought to “highlight opportunities for small business owners in the food service industry and encourage local collaboration,” KeyBank said in a news release about the event.

“Entrepreneurship and small business, in particular, help communities grow and thrive, especially in the inner city where we have diverse cultures and different backgrounds,” says Stephen Fournier, Central New York market president for KeyBank. “We know if we can enable business to thrive in our communities, it’s going to help KeyBank thrive.” 

Fournier spoke with CNYBJ after the pitch event. 

JumpStart Inc. provides investment capital and “intensive, high-impact” assistance to a diverse range of entrepreneurs and small-businesses owners … “helping them grow their companies, generate returns for their investors and create wealth and jobs for their communities,” per its Linkedin page.

JumpStart prides itself on its pitch competitions and wanted to bring that expertise here to upstate New York, says Tamika Otis, director of the KeyBank Business Boost & Build program in New York. 

 “Small-business owners traditionally do not have this opportunity to pitch their business,” says Otis tells CNYBJ.

Otis says she brought the expertise from JumpStart and helped to coach and mentor the companies involved, along with CenterState CEO and the South Side Innovation Center. 

“They nominated the clients that they’ve been working with for over a year to begin this pitch competition and then we together trained them and got them ready and put on this pitch event,” says Otis. 

C.U.S.E. Collaborative presented the event. C.U.S.E. Collaborative includes CenterState CEO, South Side Innovation Center, WISE Women’s Business Center, and the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA).