first time doing something like this, so he would break it down in layman's terms."
Bryant’s business started as a food truck in Versailles in 2016 before expanding to two brick-and-mortar restaurants, one in Versailles and one in Frankfort, which opened in March 2019.
“Right when COVID hit, we were just celebrating our one-year anniversary,” Bryant said.
Due to COVID— which Bryant thinks he had, undiagnosed, early in 2020— he had to let go of a lot of staff and ultimately close the Versailles location.
“If I’m going to choose one, I’d rather it had been this one [in Frankfort] because I could see the growth here and the locals really support it,” Bryant said. “They really stepped up, supporting a small business down here. It was actually a beautiful thing.”
One day, an anonymous patron slipped a $100 check into the restaurant’s mail slot. When Bryant tracked him down and asked why, he said, “I’m just trying to help out.”
Bryant and Trifecta BBQ received $5,000 from the REOPEN Frankfort grant, one of 18 businesses that received part of funding that totaled $82,000.
“It really came right when I needed it,” Bryant said— and it would not have happened if Cribbs hadn’t pushed him to apply. “He’s been a hell of an asset.”
Of the 18 businesses that received funding, 22.2% are minority-owned and 55.6% are woman-owned. SERV, a woman's boutique founded by three alumni of Kentucky State University, is both. Stephanie Durr and two of her sorority sisters— Brianna Washington and Lashell West, both 2014 graduates—opened SERV in September 2018. They wanted to meet a need they had felt while in college—Kentucky State students needed cute clothes they could buy in Frankfort, rather than driving to Lexington or Louisville.
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Stephanie Durr and two of her sorority sisters— Brianna Washington and Lashell West, both 2014 graduates—opened SERV in September 2018. They wanted to meet a need they had felt while in college— Kentucky State students needed cute clothes they could buy in Frankfort, rather than driving to Lexington or Louisville.
“We started it with a mission and a focus to be very body- conscious, very body-positive,” Durr said. “Everybody serves— that’s where the name SERV came from— whether it’s just serving in your community, you’re serving at your job… so we wanted women to feel confident wherever they were, in whatever capacity they were serving.”
Having a storefront seemed like a distant goal, but renting in Frankfort was relatively cheap, Durr said. SERV is located on Main Street.
Foot traffic in that location decreased dramatically, however, when the pandemic started. Because many Kentucky State University students were not on campus, SERV’s target audience wasn’t coming into the store. The owners have focused on increasing their online sales and engaging their customers virtually, but that has been challenging as well— lots of people are saving money rather than buying new clothes, Durr said.
Somebody, Durr believes, mentioned SERV to Cribbs, who informed the owners of the grant opportunity.
“Him being connected to the university, us being products of the university... he just extended the invitation to any small business owner in Frankfort,” Durr said. “He really put it on our radar and told us to look out for any other opportunities that may be available, and he’s been doing that ever since our initial meeting.”
Durr said the $5,400 that SERV received was “definitely a blessing.” She was particularly grateful at the speed and efficiency of the grant— just one day after the application deadline, she knew SERV had been awarded funds.
“When people say they need relief, that is what they need,” Durr said.
When Cribbs heard about another grant opportunity, Lowe’s-LISC (Local Initiative Support Corporation), he called his barber, Moe Shands.
That grant was available to small business owners in rural locations, with up to $20,000 available. Cribbs encouraged several Frankfort business owners to apply, but only Shands' barber shop received a grant.
“It was a four-stage process that you had to go through, and each round, I kept qualifying for the next round, and I ended up qualifying for the money,” Shands said.
Shands’ barber shop, which he runs with his son, has been open since October 2009. But for 90 days in 2020, the shop was totally shut down. He reopened on July 9, 2020, right around the time he received $10,000 from Lowe’s-LISC.
“It was very important,” Shands said. “I had depleted all my funds paying bills. I wasn’t making any income. That’s the only income I have… It helped me get out of the debt that I created and get back on top.”
Even now, with Shands’ shop open, there’s something missing: the community feeling. His shop that can hold 20 individuals— and often did— can now only hold 5. “A lot of people come here just to have conversations, talk, a place to hang out,” Shands said. “Not able to do that anymore.”
“A lot of people come here just to have conversations, talk, a place to hang out,” Shands said. “Not able to do that anymore.”
For several months after he reopened, many of his customers were still scared to come get a haircut. Now, Shands misses the kids— who, without in-person school, are getting fewer haircuts.
“I can’t wait to see the kids in the shop on a regular basis,” Shands said.
Many people, Shands said, want to get back to a sense of normalcy when the pandemic is over. He wants community.
For more information, contact Chris Cribbs at christopher.cribbs@kysu.edu or Gill Finley at gill.finley@kysu.edu.
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