July 3, 2020
The Northeast Missouri Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has been busy! As the Benjamin Franklin quote states, “Out of adversity comes opportunity,” and the Hannibal area is no exception to this. Since April, SBDC Entrepreneurship Specialist, Brittany Weldy, has counseled dozens of entrepreneurs with start-up assistance, business plans and financing. “Some of my clients had business ideas long before the COVID-19 shutdown, but weren’t sure when the right time was to pursue them. The unfortunate shutdown and layoffs with many businesses created that opportunity for people to finally look into what it takes to starting their own business, and that’s what I believe created this recent influx of SBDC clients.” One local SBDC Client is Tae’s Family Cookout. Her business originally opened in February 2020, but had to shutdown March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of May 14th, Tae’s is back open, and is very excited to begin serving the Hannibal community again. Tae’s Family Cookout offers an incredibly family friendly environment that owner and sole proprietor, Shauntae ‘Tae’ Brown oversees. She has developed her creative recipes from years of preparing food for her own family, and hosting regular cookouts in her backyard. Though Tae’s is now a brick and mortar restaurant, she still travels to regional festivals and fairs to sell her sought-after wings and BBQ.
Another unique touch to this new startup is they make their own beverages to compliment the homestyle cuisine. Their special “Backyard Punch” is made in-house and it comes in 5 fruitful flavors. She hopes to produce the beverages into a larger drink style and brand for future distribution. Currently, it’s available in to-go bottles at the restaurant, and can be added any of your dine-in or to-go orders.
Some of the customers’ favorites thus far have been the chili cheese dog with homemade chili, the tips and sausage, and smoked stuffed jumbo wings, which are stuffed with collard greens. Starting in July, the stuffed wings will be sold the last Saturday of every month (July 31st), so follow her on Facebook to stay up to date with her daily specials! Shauntae shared her secrete to why the stuffed wings are not a daily menu item, “I prepare each one by hand. They are stuffed with collard greens, then smoked. I sold out of them through Facebook orders before the restaurant even opened last time I offered them!”
Tae’s is technically a one-woman operation, but when her husband is not working his full-time job, he’s in the kitchen helping Tae prepare meals for the week. Their daughter also volunteers to help with business operations. It’s truly a family business. Tae’s hopes are to grow her restaurant and employ locals to continue the family friendly atmosphere here. That is something that can be hard to come by these days. Through supporting this restaurant, the community will surely become stronger and closer.
Few other restaurants and shops reside near the industrial environment on Market Street, so the locals are very appreciative of the convenient location of Tae’s Family Cookout. They see repeat customers weekly from businesses nearby, and their devotion is very important to the owners. Guests can expect to be greeted by Shauntae saying “Welcome to the cookout family!” when they walk in the doors to the color and festive, atmosphere.
The restaurant is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11am-5pm or until they run out of food each day. Their new location 3324 Market Street. Follow her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Familycookout/
The Missouri Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at HREDC offers personalized and extensive services to support your business success. The MO SBDC at HREDC helps businesses in every stage, and offers one-on-one counseling by appointment and training events on various business topics from understanding financial statements, customer discovery, business planning, cash flow analysis, and other events based upon the needs of the business communities served. All one-on-one counseling is confidential. https://hredc.com/resources/mo-sbdc-at-hredc/
