Bringing Curated Cocktails to Your Door
Elevate Together® grant helps beverage caterer go mobile.
Rochelle Satchell was always the person to bring cocktails to family gatherings, so it was no surprise when she turned that skill into a business. With the world in the midst of a pandemic and people isolating at home in 2021, the time was right to launch Cure Cocktails, a mobile beverage catering company that delivers specialty drinks and events to customers’ doors in Boynton Beach, Florida.
Cure was the perfect blending of Rochelle’s mixology knowledge and her husband Jeff’s background in transportation and logistics. They also tapped into their joint experience as former owners of a lounge and restaurant when they previously lived in Philadelphia, where Rochelle opened her first restaurant in 1996 and learned all about cocktails. When the bar got busy, she’d help with bartending duties. “What I learned in my first year in business would have taken me an entire lifetime to learn,” she says.
Several other companies had similar mobile beverage concepts, including one specializing in prosecco. “What we noticed was that all these companies required three pieces of equipment: a truck, a trailer and a bar set-up. Our goal was to design a space that would be cost-efficient and provide ease of operation. We also wanted to create a unique mobile beverage company that would elevate guests’ experience.”
A marketing agency helped them do a soft launch. The first event they hosted was the 50th birthday party for the agency’s owner. Because of the pandemic, the party was held in the woman’s driveway.
“The first event provided valuable feedback,” Satchell recalls. “People were excited about the concept of Cure Cocktails because most of them had never seen anything like it.”
Dissatisfied with the agency’s services, they ended the contract with them. “As a microbusiness, our goal was always to garner the same attention and support that larger businesses got, but our budget didn’t match our goal,” she says.
To gain more exposure, the couple began working their network and joined the Chamber of Commerce, where they partnered with other Chambers and provided mobile beverage services to member companies.
They also attended training programs through SCORE and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), which offered free counseling services and resources for businesses in underserved communities. “The SBDC mentorship we received helped us develop our business plan and analyze TAM (total addressable market) data to determine our potential market share,” Satchell says.
Through the SBDC, they received coaching from Ra’Chelle Franklin, whose husband heads the Urban League of West Palm Beach. Franklin encouraged the couple to apply for a grant from Elevate Together®, a nonprofit initiative powered by Round It Up America® designed to address systemic discrimination and historical racial disparities in business growth and profitability in Black and Hispanic communities.
“The Elevate Together® cash grant enabled us to hire another agency to optimize our website and develop SEO strategies for our business,” Satchell shares. “Once optimized, Cure’s website attracted more customers who found us through Google, and our revenue grew by more than five times our initial projections.”
Carmen Deale, senior program manager of supplier diversity at The ODP Corporation, says the mission of Elevate Together® is to accelerate the creation, growth, and prosperity of Black and Hispanic small businesses by offering support in three areas: education, training, and mentorships; access, such as to professional networks; and aid, such as grants and donations of in-kind products and services. Since its launch in 2021, Elevate Together® has expanded to nine markets and doubled the number of Black and Hispanic businesses that have received grants.
“Cure Cocktails was one of the first grant recipients,” says Deale. “The ODP Corporation frequently utilizes their services for corporate events.”
Satchell says the support from The ODP Corporation and Elevate Together® will be invaluable as they pursue possible franchising into other cities, including their hometown of Philadelphia. They’re also planning to open brick-and-mortar locations in South Florida where customers can learn the art of craft cocktails.
“After winning the cash grant, we realized this wasn’t a one-time experience, but the start of an ongoing relationship with The ODP Corporation. With their continued guidance and the platforms and opportunities they provide, we can continue to increase awareness about our business,” Satchell says.
