Nav Gives $10,000 Small Business Grant to Coffee Roaster & Shop

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Nav, a service that gives business owners the fastest, easiest and most trusted path to financing, revealed Philip Klayman, Founder of Three Tree Coffee, as the grand prize winner of the company's quarterly Small Business Grant.

Three Tree Coffee, a mission-driven coffee shop that opened in Statesboro, Ga., in 2015, had humble beginnings with a husband and wife team roasting coffee beans out in their backyard. Eventually, the operation grew to a bricks-and-mortar establishment with an on-site roasting room and 19 employees. Naturally, as the business grew, so did other elements of the business — inventory, machinery needs, overhead and customer requests — causing Klayman to struggle with cash flow and forcing him to focus on day-to-day tasks endlessly rather than the bigger, strategic plan and needs for the business.

"When a business owner struggles with cash flow and access to capital, other elements of their business will struggle," shared Greg Ott, Nav CEO. "Three Tree's grant application stood out because the challenge they faced is one we see our customers face every day — just a little extra capital is all they needed to unlock major growth. We're excited to see how the $10,000 removes hurdles for the Three Tree Coffee team and gives them the freedom to grow their business."

Klayman will use the $10,000 grant to purchase a weigh and fill machine to speed up production and reduce the labor cost of hand-weighing and packing individual units of bagged coffee.

"About 70 percent of our labor on the roasting side is spent weighing, bagging and labeling," shared Klayman. "The burden of spending so much time on these elements limits the volume we can produce and the packaging options for our customers. The new weigh and fill machine will automate nearly 100 percent of this component of our business and dramatically increase our production levels."

Additionally, Klayman anticipates that the new production equipment will also generate an increase in the wholesale side of the business, allowing them to acquire new bakery, coffee shop and restaurant contracts across the nation.

"Right now, we're focused on day-to-day operations. The laborious process that we have to go through each day just to bag the roasted beans takes away valuable time from other elements of the business that we've wanted to focus on. By automating just one element of our business, we'll be able to dedicate time and resources to expanding products and our customer base. More importantly, it will allow us to get back to the real reason we started the company - sourcing and roasting the best ethically sourced coffee beans and bringing communities together over their love for the drink." 

To learn more about Nav's visit to Three Tree Coffee, read Nav's latest blog post.

Two other small businesses were also awarded grants in this round:

• Animal Acupuncture & Chiropractic Care, an animal wellness facility owned by Dr. Susan Fife, DVM, received $2,000 to renovate a building needed to expand services to hydrotherapy clients during the winter months.
• Sawtooth Services, a residential and commercial landscaping and tree removal company based in Idaho, was awarded $1,000 to offset costs needed to fabricate debris removal equipment.

The Nav Small Business Grant was established to bring awareness to the roadblocks that entrepreneurs encounter while chasing their dreams, and help them overcome these challenges. Since launching in 2018, Nav has awarded more than $70,000 to small businesses across the country. Each of the Grant winners have shared a common theme — their businesses' greatest challenge is figuring out how to easily and successfully access capital. 

The next round of Nav's quarterly Small Business Grant is now open. To be considered for Nav's Small Business Grant, business owners must share a challenge their business is facing, explaining how the Grant will help them overcome that hurdle and have a free Nav account. Applications will be accepted on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn until May 30, 2020. More information about the Grant and details on applying are available at Nav.com/grant.

About Nav
Nav gives business owners the fastest, easiest and most trusted path to financing. The leading Business Financial Management app, Nav hosts a robust marketplace with more than 110 business financing products, and gives business owners free access to personal and business credit reports from major consumer and commercial credit bureaus including Experian, Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax and TransUnion. The marketplace uses a unique, lender-neutral approach to help business owners find the best financing options for their needs. Nav services related to credit card and alternative financing recommendations may not be available in all states. Nav's solution is also leveraged by other business service providers to enhance their customer experience. The company has offices in Silicon Valley and Salt Lake City. To learn more, visit Nav.com.

CONTACT:
Amanda Triest
Nav PR Manager
[email protected]
801-890-5024

SOURCE Nav

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