Running a small business is challenging to begin with, so when a big change is needed, it’s essential to communicate well. When Marie and Shaun Alcorn, owners of Karma Coffee Company and Yellow Dog Lantern Restaurant, wanted to restructure their businesses, they came to the Venango Chamber to help get their message out.
In addition to Karma and Yellow Dog, the Alcorns owned a lunch spot called Northside Eatery. Northside was busy with customers each day, but had grown too big for its space on Seneca Street and the Alcorns were spread between three buildings, making it difficult to run all operations. The decision was made to move lunch offerings at Northside to Karma just a few storefronts down Seneca Street, where there is a larger space and updated kitchen.
“We knew this was the right decision for our businesses, but we were nervous about the public perception of the move,” Marie said. “We didn’t want it to appear that we were closing Northside; it was actually quite the opposite–we had outgrown our space.”
The Alcorns met with Chamber staff, who wrote an article about the change for the VenangoWorks! Newsletter and shared it online. The Facebook post reached almost 13,000 people and had over 60 shares.
“The move of Northside operations to Karma happened almost seamlessly,” said Shaun. “The Chamber helped us craft our message and promote it throughout the region–something we couldn’t have done on our own.”
The Alcorns opened a new store, Core Goods, where Northside Eatery was located.
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