There are many places where Tiny Business Village concepts are helping to support small towns economically.
Kettleman City is a stop off the I-5 through central California. This is a large and well funded project that was build to pull people off a monotous drive to provide something interesting to lure them off the highway for a break and to spend money in the community.
While we don’t have the funds to build something this big, it does give us some creative ideas. This is a different take where the tiny village is creative relaxation/dining space, the larger portion of this project is a larger building with unique store(s), and food options.
The tiny business village allows us to do something similar with small businesses, where the food is provided by food carts instead of a large standard restaurant facility.*
Perhaps it can provide some creative sparks for the renewal of downtown Blue River.
One of the goals for this project is to provide reasons to pull people off the highway and into Blue River. Creating a synergy of small and interesting businesses is going to be tough, but if we work together, we can make it happen.
Some thoughts on attracting food businesses to the McKenzie River area.
We want more businesses to thrive. Please support our current operators. At the same time, let’s also support new options that help give us some variety and encourage more people to visit and eat out.
*Why are food carts better for Blue River than standard construction restaurants?
Standard construction Restaurants:
- is expensive and takes a long time to build
- septic capacity is a huge issue affecting ability to build and size of building (not all lots could qualify)
- investment would require large client base to support
- is a very risky investment
Food Carts
- Low cost to build/purchase
- Can be placed on most any commercial land
- Septic capacity on land not as big an impact
- Provide food variety
- Lower cost to operate – some can be manned by 1 person.
- Can operate seasonally or with more flexible hours increasing likelihood of success
- Less risky as they are mobile and can be moved should demand not materialize