The New Normal Post #4: How Drexel Entrepreneurs are Creating Opportunities in the Age of COVID-19

The focus of this blog has always been female entrepreneurship – after all, the name of the blog is The Ladies who Launch! But at this unprecedented time of COVID-19, I am pivoting to include male founders, whose stories of how they are adapting to the “new normal” are instructive to budding entrepreneurs everywhere.

Featuring Gaurang Bham of Phoodie

Gaurang Bham was born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia to Indian immigrant parents. He was a self-described “fat kid” who loved the rich food-culture of Philadelphia (which he considers one of the greatest food cities in the United States by the way!). Checking out the best foodie spots in town has always been a favorite interest for Gaurang. He was also interested in computers and technology: after graduating from Central High School, Gaurang went on to study Software Engineering and Entrepreneurship at Drexel University.

During one of his Drexel Computer Science classes, Gaurang was assigned a group project. The scope of the project was wide-open and could be anything as long as it involved programming. Gaurang’s group decided to design an app that would use foot traffic to optimize college facilities and called it “Crowds”. After the class ended, Gaurang continued work on “Crowds”.

It was at that time that Gaurang learned that one of his favorite restaurants was struggling. Like many Philadelphia restaurants, it was family-owned and struggling to survive with razor-thin margins. Could a third-party sales processing and delivery service app such GrubHub help smaller local restaurants increase business? Gaurang discovered that Grubhub (and DoorDash and UberEats) charge such high commission and delivery rates that they are actually bleeding these independently-owned restaurants dry. Restaurants pay a commission rate based on location and density of restaurants in their area. The more competition, the higher the commission (commissions average from 15 – 25% plus an additional 10% for delivery). If a restaurant wants to stand out, it can pay even more for a sponsored listing. Without a sponsored listing, a restaurant can get lost in the crowd.

Gaurang realized that “Crowds” could be used to help drive foot traffic to restaurants. Guarang shifted its focus and renamed his app Phoodie. Phoodie uses machine learning to analyze foot traffic, sales and food inventory to identify slower times when a restaurant needs business most. It then suggests to restaurants that they offer a discount at that time, notifies app users that a discount is available and then allow customers to purchase directly from the app, coupon code applied, for pick up. Both customer and restaurant benefit: restaurants see increased sales and reduced food waste and customers get a deal.

With the current COVID-19 pandemic, most restaurants are closed for eat – in dining. If they are open at all, it is for curbside pick-up or delivery only. On the surface, it seems like an ideal situation for a third party sales app such as Phoodie. Is it? I asked Gaurang to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by COVID-19.

What was Phoodie’s pre-pandemic business model?

Phoodie, like any food ordering app, provides a restaurant-facing and customer-facing app. We used machine learning to automate pricing at restaurants based on demand. When restaurants are slow, the app suggests lower prices to entice customers to order takeout. We charged a variable commission rate based on sales performance through our app. (We do well when we help you do well!)

How are you turning the hurdle of social distancing into an opportunity? How has your business pivoted?

For the first few weeks, I had no clue what we were going to do. Phoodie was pre-launch and pre-revenue. The Food/Drink industry has been hit arguably the hardest from the pandemic and Phoodie was based on a unique value proposition powered by sales demand at restaurants. And it was pick-up only with no option for delivery.

It seemed like there was literally nothing we could do to launch our business. But as the CEO, I felt like I had to save face and be strong for my team even though I had no idea how to move forward.

My team and I focused on building our product and helping our partner restaurants in whatever way we could – spreading the word, featuring them on our social media, and through referrals. Eventually, I reached a crossroad where I realized that Phoodie could either:

Build the product and wait until the pandemic blows over to launch. This would be a huge risk: the post-pandemic restaurant industry might be totally different than the pre-pandemic industry. We could spend invaluable time building our product for nothing. Or we could
Figure out a way to add a delivery option and put dynamic pricing on hold. We could simply release our app as a totally free alternative to the big name GrubHub, DoorDash and UberEats, who are continuing to charge restaurants an arm and a leg even in these extremely difficult times.

Opting for option 2, we forged a partnership with Habitat Logistics, a local delivery provider for restaurants in the Philadelphia area. We are now aiming for an early May launch with the plan of providing a totally free food takeout/delivery service in which 100% of the sale goes back to the restaurant.

We earn 0% commission, but at the end of the day, restaurants learn they can rely on us. They can increase their sales and we do a good thing for the Philly Restaurant Scene. I would call that a win-win!

How important is “thinking outside the box” to the survival and growth of your business?

I think at this point, if you are not thinking outside the box, your business is at a standstill. If you are in an industry that does not conduct most of its business online, you are back to square one for the first time since the birth of that industry. All metrics are being re-made, so now is the time to experiment.

For us, thinking outside the box is more of a “nothing to lose” situation. If we wait for the pandemic to end, our product could be obsolete. If we try to sell the service “as is”, restaurants will slam doors in our face because a discount-based app is tone-deaf in the current climate. And if we give up, all the hard work my team has spent is for nothing. Besides, what else am I going to do with all this free time?

Releasing a free food ordering platform means we make a name for ourselves and we do a good thing and make an impact on the local food scene. That is our primary goal – making an impact.

How are you connecting with your peers?

As a technical founder, I have designed my entire team’s framework around being remote-accessible. All our meetings, even pre-pandemic, are logged in a team calendar with Google Meet Conferencing Links attached so anybody can be involved. So luckily the transition to a totally remote workforce was the easiest thing about this shift.

Our team syncs up at least once a day for 30 minutes to go over what they have worked on, any issues they ran into and any questions they may have. This gives me insight into the pace in which we are moving forward and how to better-position each team member. Additionally, I have 1:1 calls with team members to go over more in-depth issues.

Prior to the pandemic, our team had a very close-knit relationship and it has been hard to find opportunities for the team to bond outside of work. We all ate lunch together at least once or twice each week and would set aside time to bond through a shared love of games (Our team is particularly competitive when it comes to Super Smash Bros.). Without a shared space to work, along with some teammates living in different time zones, opportunities for that have diminished.

That being said, I am currently trying to schedule the entire team to have a set “Happy Hour” of sorts for all of us to play games online, chat and catch-up.

How important are Mentors to you at this time?

Mentors have played an incredibly large part in both my and Phoodie’s development. I would argue that our mentors have had an even larger impact as a result of the pandemic. Things have been crazy and having mentors to bounce ideas and strategy off-of has been incredibly comforting during this pandemic.

What new learning are you planning?

The past several weeks has extended my knowledge tenfold. I had a technical co-founder who left the company earlier in the year who was responsible for our entire database and back-end architecture. With his absence, I had to become an expert in all things Amazon Web Services. So that has really been the bulk of my learning!

How important is resiliency to you?

If there is one thing that I try to impart to my team it is the value of “grit”. Things are never going to be easy in life and now, more than ever, I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs are seeing that reality up close and personal.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia and came up through the devastatingly underfunded public-school system. I am now a graduate from Drexel University with a Degree in Software Engineering, I have a startup about to launch and a corporate job lined up for the summer. The only thing that has gotten me this far is my resiliency and determination. Even getting Phoodie to where it is now was a 4-year process!

There are no shortcuts, not before the pandemic and certainly not after it. Grit means you want it even more. It means you are hungrier. And as Philadelphia Eagles Center Jason Kelce put it so eloquently, “Hungry dogs run faster”.

If you own a local restaurant that would like to be a part of Phoodie’s pilot program, please reach out! Email Gaurang at gaurang@phoodie.io.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phoodie.io/.

Visit Phoodie’s website: https://www.phoodie.io/.

Like Phoodie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/phoodie.io/.

The New Normal Post #1: Drexel Entrepreneurs Creating Opportunities in the Age of COVID-19

Featuring Paris Gramann and Rebecca Lee of Just Be Books LLC

Drexel graduate (’20) Paris Gramann began developing the idea for Just Be Books LLC when she was in high school. As a young person, she battled mental health issues that included anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide. She never felt that she had the words or the permission to tell the adults in her life how she was feeling. Paris has experienced mental health difficulties throughout her young adult life. It wasn’t until college that she realized she was allowed to talk about her struggles and ask for the help she needed. Paris believes that childhood is the most important time to learn how to talk about our needs, about how to speak-up for ourselves and how to listen to others. Just Be Books gives parents the tools to teach children how to do what Paris struggled with as a child – how to use their words to express their emotions. The Just Be Books tool kit includes the illustrated children’s book Just Be which tells the story of an apple named Albert who discovers, with the help of friends, how to manage his feelings of sadness, a plush Albert Apple toy and downloadable supplemental information.

The current COVID-19 pandemic makes this a scary time for everyone and especially kids who haven’t developed the skills to express their fears. Children have been pulled out of school, isolated in their homes; they can sense their parents’ anxiety over not only health, but also about the financial repercussions of a shut-down economy. Children are most certainly struggling with fears of illness, death, dying and uncertainty. Now, more then ever, they need Just Be Books!

I asked Paris and her partner, Rebecca Lee (an undergraduate student studying Middle School Education at Temple University) to answer a series of questions aimed at discovering how Just Be Books is pivoting to face the unique challenge presented by this “new normal”. Here are their answers:

Describe your pre-pandemic business model plan:

Before the pandemic, our sales were all Business to Consumer. We fulfilled 85 book orders prior to December 1, 2019, and we raised $4,205 from a Kickstarter campaign.

At the start of 2020, we continued online sales from our website and began working with Business to Business organizations. By March 2020, our books were in two retail locations: Magical Child in Encinitas, CA and Blue Literacy Bookstore in Cincinnati, OH. We began to work with schools and tested at three different schools and were hoping for more testing at additional schools.

Our focus was on 1) School District Partnerships 2) B2C online sales 3) B2B retail store wholesale partnerships and 4) Clinician Partnerships.

How are you turning the hurdle of social distancing into an opportunity?

With most schools closed and people practicing social distancing, parents are turning to online resources to help continue their child’s learning and creativity at home. Just Be Books LLC is shifting our focus from in-person school assemblies (which have been canceled) to creating free content for parents and kids — accessible via our social media accounts and our website. Since parents are cooped up in the house, we have noticed greater activity on social media so we are using this time to become more present on social media platforms. We are currently working with our adviser, Shannon Sweitzer, Ph.D in School Psychology, to create positive mental health activities and crafts that keep kids learning and help them work through some of the anxieties and stress that can arise from an unprecedented situation like this. Just Be Books hopes to provide free, fun, and helpful content to our wonderful existing customers as well as gain a greater following by reaching out to our partners and networks.

How has your business pivoted?

We had assemblies and readings scheduled throughout the end of March that were either canceled or postponed. With this disappointment comes a fantastic opportunity to get more creative and pivot to better meet our customers’ new needs. Just Be Books is launching a 20-Day Mental Health Activity Challenge that will give parents ideas and instructions for positive activities such as arts and crafts projects and brain teasers that they can do from home with common household supplies. We also plan on utilizing video platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook to do live readings, breathing activities, and yoga. All of this content will be saved and available for customers to view at later times.

How important is “thinking outside the box” to the survival and growth of your business?

Thinking outside the box is very important to our business! We always want to be bringing something new and creative to the families we sell to, but we also always want what we are doing to be rooted in research. We are striving to create new “outside of the box” content that is grounded in what’s known to work for kids. We are brainstorming activities with professionals and modifying them to be do-able with simple things that most families have around the house. We are really excited to make these educational crafts accessible to all families. These activities can be accessed here.

How important is resiliency to you?

Resiliency is an important aspect of every part of both our business and professional lives. In regards to the pandemic, we took a few days to process and readjust, but we think our shared resiliency and passion for our customers is helping us stay motivated.

How are you connecting with your peers?

We are so happy to have built amazing relationships with our peers at the Baiada Incubator. We have been able to continue some of our “break times” (aka playing cards or a game called Spyfall) via video chat. Using technology like Facebook Messenger and Google Hangouts has helped us all stay connected with one another. We have also been able to touch base emotionally with our peers and give emotional support to one another through text messages and “vent sessions”.

Everyone is going through this together. Some peers are taking a hit and others are thriving with the extra challenges that the pandemic is providing.

How important are Mentors to you at this time?

We are excited to explore the additional resources that our Universities provide (Paris is a recent graduate of Drexel University and Rebecca is currently an undergrad at Temple University). Among those resources are the Mentor Match program where we can find extra support to help us better understand our current challenges. As I mentioned before, our adviser, Sharon Schweitzer, is helping us to create positive, research-based, activities for our 20 Day Mental Health Activity Challenge.

What new learning are you planning?

Our team at Just Be Books is excited (and anxious) about all of the new challenges that will come from the changes in the world right now. At the heart of us both, we are students. We are currently working on our second book as well as the specific projects listed above. We are both learning how to provide effective content for families in need of mental health resources at this time.

To learn more about Just Be Books, visit the following:

Facebook: @justbebooks https://www.facebook.com/justbebooks/

Instagram: @justbe_books https://www.instagram.com/justbe_books/?hl=en

Website: justbebooks.com/

On a personal note: As a kid, I had a crippling fear of death and dying. It took me years before I felt brave enough to say something to my parents. When I finally found my words, my mom very simply said, “Everyone dies. It’s just a part of life”. Not a particularly reassuring reply, but just the act of speaking my truth out loud provided instant and sustained relief.

How I wish the Just Be Books tool kit had been available when I was a child! It could have helped me find my words at an earlier age and saved me a lot of stress and worry.

Nohra Murad of Camino Kombucha

Let me start this blog post by asking a question: do you drink kombucha?

If your answer is no, you should start!

Kombucha has multiple proven health benefits. First, it contains probiotics and is good for your gut health – a healthy gut not only makes you feel physically better, it helps you lose weight and has a positive affect on mood. Second, kombucha contains antioxidants and therefore, has the potential to reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer. And third, there is evidence that kombucha helps patients manage their Type 2 Diabetes.

What did you say? You’ve tried it, but don’t like it?

Admittedly, kombucha is not to everyone’s liking. Kombucha is a slightly alcoholic (very slightly), bubbly, fermented, sweetened tea with a hint of vinegar. Nohra Murad, the owner, founder and brewer of the Philadelphia-based kombucha company,”Camino Kombucha”, knows this and has set out to create a kombucha that delivers all the health benefits with a delicious, more universally-palatable taste.

Nohra first started making kombucha completely by happenstance. She was a Drexel University student working at her third Coop in Washington DC when her boyfriend gave her a pickling kit for Christmas. He thought she would have fun pickling vegetables. But instead, a small tag that read, “Can be used to brew kombucha”, sparked Nohra’s interest. Nohra liked kombucha but, as a student, she couldn’t afford to drink it on a regular basis. She decided to give brewing it a try.

Norah was lonely in DC – she was far from her Philadelphia home and friends. The act of brewing kombucha became a life-saver. Not only did she enjoy the process but she also loved to share the results with friends. The power of shared food to form community is an important motivator for Nohra. She was hooked.

Nohra’s parents had immigrated to the United States from Iraq, settling in the Phoenix suburbs of Arizona. A large Assyrian community existed there and the dry, desert heat reminded her parents of Baghdad.

They joined the Assyrian Church of the East and church became central to their life. The Assyrian Church of the East was welcoming and not only shared their Assyrian traditions, but also their food. Black tea, samoon, lavish, dolma, booshalah and goopta thoomurta (a poor man’s fermented cheese which involves burying a cheese blend in a hole in the ground for three months – sounds delicious??? hmmm…not so sure) were foods that they bonded over.

As a young girl, Nohra would also travel to the midwest to spend part of her summer vacation with relatives. Memories of hours spent, sitting in her aunt’s kitchen on summer days, eating and learning how to make Assyrian dishes resonate with Nohra to this day.

Nohra had a distinct idea about how she wanted her kombucha to taste. Nohra was studying Biomedical Engineering at Drexel and her engineering brain kicked in – she loves to figure things out. Through experimentation, she was able to perfect the technique and the taste that is unique to her Camino Kombucha brand. Camino Kombucha is a traditional kombucha with a slight variation. Nohra brews a typical 50/50 black to green tea ratio but she slightly reduces her fermentation time and adds more sugar, decreasing its vinegar taste. She also adds CO2 for consistency. The result is a sweet, effervescent, light kombucha.

When Nohra graduated with her Bachelors and Masters in Science in June of 2019, she decided to concentrate on brewing kombucha rather than finding an engineering job. Nohra had been inspired to study engineering by her dad who had his PhD in Engineering. Nohra’s father never encouraged Nohra to be an engineer. He was passionate about history and had wanted to be a History teacher. However, when Nohra decided to pursue her own passion making kombucha, he was not on board. He was proud of his daughter’s academic achievements and was afraid she was throwing her Drexel degrees away.

Nohra was not discouraged by her dad’s unenthusiastic response. She is a tenacious pursuer of her goals. Once she sets her mind to something, there is no stopping her.

Nohra Murad brewing at her Maken Studios facility.

When Nohra began taste-testing her finished recipe, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Even people who had tried kombucha before and claimed to dislike it, liked her kombucha. This was Nohra’s aha moment: if hers’ was the kind of kombucha that a person who thinks they don’t like kombucha likes, then there was a huge opportunity to bring a niche drink to a much wider audience. Nohra’s kombucha had the potential to be the next Vitamin Water or Snapple.

Nohra decided to go for it. She moved quickly. Within a year of brewing her first kombucha, her company was formed. She decided to call it Camino Kombucha and branded it to have a retro feel, reminiscent of Route 66 which had its heyday in the 1950s. Route 66 runs through Arizona and reminds her of home.

Through a series of lucky breaks, Camino Kombucha also moved out of Nohra’s West Philly apartment kitchen and into its new home – a space in Kensington’s Maken Studios, the same launchpad for entrepreneurs that Thu Pham and Caphe Roasters (read previous blog) calls home.

She now brews four signature flavors from her Maken workspace – Prickly Pear, Rose, Lime Ginger and my personal favorite – Grapefruit. You can purchase Camino Kombucha at 3 locations: 1) the Pennsylvania General Store in Reading Terminal Market, 2) V Marks the Shop and 3) The Tasty.

Starting a new venture is hard and requires capital. Camino Kombucha has been self-funded almost entirely by Nohra and her family. In order to grow, she is going to need to find other sources of funding. Banks won’t lend her money – she has no proven track record and is too big a risk. Nohra is looking for people who believe in her product to invest in her idea.

And her idea is a good one. In November, at Drexel University’s annual Start Up Fest, she impressed a panel of New Venture experts with her Camino Kombucha pitch and was awarded a cash prize plus space in Drexel’s prestigious Baiada Incubator, beating out some serious competition.

If you would like to support Camino Kombucha and help Nohra Murad realize her dream of seeing her kombucha sold everywhere (including in your local Wawa), consider investing.

Visit https://app.honeycombcredit.com/en/projects/10941-Camino-Kombucha-Co to learn how you can invest.

Featuring Gaurang Bham of Phoodie

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Featuring Paris Gramann and Rebecca Lee of Just Be Books LLC

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