Author Archive for Sophia Whiteman

Curly Tail Coffee

Posted by Sophia Whiteman 
· Wednesday, November 24th, 2021 
· 4 Comments

Curly Tail Coffee is a very cool coffee company started by a young woman named Nicole Waltenbaugh.  This business started out as a coffee roasting business alone, but Nicole soon added two food trailers to the business to capitalize on the demand for coffee on the go.  These little trailers sell her bags of roasted coffee, pastries and muffins, hot tea, hot chocolate, and their specially roasted hot coffee.  Part of the inspiration behind starting this business was the founder’s love for animals and her passion for rescue pugs specifically.  One dollar of each bag of coffee that she sells is donated to an animal rescue.  Because of this, Curly Tail Coffee has been able to donate over 30,000 dollars!  Nicole’s love of pugs is also where the name came from, curly tail for the curly tails of the pugs that Nicole loves so much!  It also applies to the curly tails of pigs which she has two of.

Curly Tail Coffee is the perfect example of a business built out of the combination of two passions.  She started with the two passions of roasting coffee and the support of rescue pugs.

This business is  especially cool to me because this is in our home town of Kittanning! I love Nicole and her coffee.  She often has one of her pugs or one of her pigs at the trailers when you go to visit to buy coffee.

http://www.curlytailcoffee.com/

4 Comments
Categories : Baking, Beverages, Business, Business::Entrepreneurs, Charity, Coffee, Cookies, Dogs, Food, Food Trucks, Pets

City Bonfires-A Mini Mobile Bonfire

Posted by Sophia Whiteman 
· Friday, November 5th, 2021 
· 6 Comments

City Bonfires was created and is still produced in Maryland.  It was created by Chris McCasland and Michael Opalski when both of their jobs were impacted because of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Because of this, they were both at home a lot more than they were used to and started looking for something to do with all of this time they had recently acquired.  I think that it is really great that they make everything right in Maryland and with American made materials.

City Bonfires sells several different product packages on their website.  They sell just the “portable firepit”, three different smore packs (which include smore ingredients since these are safe to cook over, and scented ones which interestingly you can also still cook over.  I think this is a very interesting concept and something that has been missing on the market.  Yes there have been other little fire makers out there, but none that are made out of food grade wax and plant based materials that makes them perfectly safe to cook things like smores over.

I really like the idea and execution of City Bonfires.  I believe that with innovation cool niche products like this can really make a go of it.  There is nothing quite as perfect and well thought out as this product on the market.  I think it is very fun that this whole company came from the pandemic.

Shop Page – City Bonfires

6 Comments
Categories : Baking, Business, Business::Entrepreneurs, Candles, Convenience, Cooking, Creating, Entrepreneurship, Experience, Handmade, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Online Companies, Recycling

Lancaster Cast Iron

Posted by Sophia Whiteman 
· Thursday, October 21st, 2021 
· 2 Comments

Lancaster Cast Iron is a Pennsylvania based company that produces skillets, cutting boards, wooden utensils, and other accessories for the pans.  Everything that they sell is made in the United States and strives for quality and perfection.  This company was actually started by two Grove City graduates which makes the whole company better in my opinion.  Mark Longenecker and Brandon Moore started this company in 2018 and it has grown ever since.  These pans are very high quality and the company clearly put a lot of time and thought into the design and production of them.

This company is especially inspirational and interesting since they are both Grove City graduates, fairly young ones at that.  You would not immediately think of cast iron pans when you think of something that you could innovate.  Cast iron pans have basically stayed the same forever.  I think it is very interesting how Mark and Brandon saw issues with the basic cast iron pans and decided to improve them.  The co-founders seem very motivated by slowing down to embrace the little parts of life and getting the little details perfect.  My grandparents have some of their pans and utensils and love them.  Not only did they like the first few items the purchased, but they were repeat customers with not complaints.

https://lancastercastiron.com/

2 Comments
Categories : Baking, Cooking, Food, Household Goods, Nutrition, Restaurants, USA

Hope Outfitters

Posted by Sophia Whiteman 
· Friday, October 8th, 2021 
· 6 Comments

Hope Outfitters is a small business started by Ryan Welch that creates cute, comfortable clothing and accessories, and then donates all of the profits to charity.  They believe that even the smallest things can add up to the biggest difference.  Part of what makes Hope Outfitters an interesting business model is that not only do they donate all of their profits to charity, but they pick a different charity every year.  I think this is a great idea because this way, they can spread around their profits and pick relevant causes each year.  I believe this also makes it more appealing to customers, drives interest and incentivizes repeat customers because if they like the new charity they will want to support it.  Most of the products on the website are made in the United States which is also a nice plus.  Hope Outfitters also provides the guarantee that none of their products have been made in sweatshops or unethical ways, allowing the customer to buy with a clean conscience.  I believe that this company is a great example of how with 25 dollar shirts, one company can make a huge impact all across the world.

6 Comments
Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Business, Business::Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship, USA

Culture of Life-COL1972

Posted by Sophia Whiteman 
· Monday, September 27th, 2021 
· 1 Comment

Culture of Life 1972 is an online boutique that was created for the sole reason that there werenot clothing companies supporting the “values of life” that the family that started the company wanted supported.  COL1972 for short, is a self described risk taking and faith based company, started in Pennsylvania.  The 1972 part of the company’s name is to honor the last year that every baby had the right to life.  They donate to many places that support their values including places like pregnancy centers.  COL1972 produces high quality women’s clothing and accessories that support and fund important causes to the company.  They are strongly against abortion, hence the name, so that is a cause that they donate a lot of money to.  Their clothes are high quality and fashionable which appeals to a broad market, even if the customer does not specifically support the companies causes, they may still want the clothing and accessories just because they like them.  I believe that COL1972 is a great example of not remaking the wheel and coming up with something completely new, they just made it better and created a niche.  The market for clothing companies, or companies in general for that matter that support causes that the consumer themselves is interested in supporting is nothing new.  COL1972 just happened to tap into a set of customers that had to my knowledge, never been appealed to before in this way.

1 Comment
Categories : Business::Entrepreneurs, Christian, Entrepreneurship, Fashion, Female Empowerment, Politics, Positivity

BBMilitaryWifeLife

Posted by Sophia Whiteman 
· Tuesday, September 14th, 2021 
· 5 Comments

BBMilitaryWifeLife is an amazing company started by a wife and mother named Brook.  She was inspired to start this company after having a blog.  However, once she realized that she could combine her two passions of earrings and awareness for the military community, she came up with BBMilitaryWifeLife.  Consequently, this company takes worn military uniforms and turns them into treasured and beautiful earrings.

This is a unique company as I have never seen another company take uniforms and make jewelry from them.  Most of the time you see people repurposing military uniforms it is by making bags, scarves, and stuffed animals.  I believe that the idea of being able to wear a piece of a uniform is very cool and a new part of the market.

I find this company specifically inspiring because my sister and I came up with a business idea for the Venture Battle very similar to this company that reused military uniforms into dog bandanas.  Having invested time and done research into this particular market, I have a great appreciation for what Brook and her company are trying to do.  The idea of reusing military uniforms seems to be a great idea because not only do people that have family members involved in the military want these products, but also just patriotic Americans want to support a company that repurposes military uniforms.

5 Comments
Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Military, Recycling