- 3 hours ago
Local Detroiters are revitalizing the city through their passion for food and coffee.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:09Hey, I'm gonna rise right up from the ashes I'm gonna rise cuz I know that I'm magic
00:15Let my soul shine, let my heart be led I'm gonna change the world by connecting the thread
00:20Times did get rough here in Detroit
00:24There was a lot of abandoned buildings, the stilliest
00:28Currently Detroit is going through this revitalization
00:35Everyone wants to contribute to the rebirth and being an entrepreneur you are contributing
00:40You're bringing your ideas, your business to the city
00:45People will say, oh you're from Detroit, was it safe?
00:48People who are from Detroit want people to know that it's not a horrible place
00:52It's a beautiful place, it's a place that made us who we are today
00:57I would walk from grandparent to grandparent cuz we're on seven moms
01:00And my mom's parents still own this house
01:07My family, I feel that at this point they know that Jennifer's a go-getter
01:18And I'll go get it
01:47Right now we're in Detroit's historical Easter market
01:52It's one of the oldest farmer's markets.
01:57When I think of Detroit, I think of food.
02:00It really makes me love my city even more
02:02because I know where, like, my food is coming from.
02:08I cook. That's what I do all day.
02:10I get to experience Detroit through my pies.
02:14The lemon butter pies are one of my granddad's
02:16favorite recipes.
02:18And I remember he would take his elbow
02:19and he would, like, roll the lemon with his elbow.
02:22And I feel like so many times in life,
02:24people don't do what they want to do.
02:26And my granddad always used to say, like,
02:29I could sell these pies.
02:30You know, he had all these different dreams.
02:32He actually ended up working for Chrysler for about 30 years,
02:34but he was never able to do it.
02:36So I started my pie company, and I told my granddad.
02:40I said, hey, I'm about to make these pies.
02:43I'm about to make your pies.
02:45He was like, do it. Do it.
02:49Okay, that was it.
02:52It's always been coffee.
02:54Ever since I started going to business school,
02:56it's always been coffee.
02:59There were no coffee trucks when I started,
03:02and that's because there was not really much of anything.
03:07Hi, how's it going?
03:08Good, welcome.
03:09To start a coffee shop, the start-up cost is so monumental.
03:13I never thought I could get there.
03:15So we found the caboose on Craigslist, of course.
03:19We got there, and it was falling apart.
03:22There was a hole in the floor, completely busted out.
03:25There was a hole in the ceiling.
03:26There were no windows.
03:27It just looked like crap, and I fell in love.
03:31There was a hole in the ceiling.
03:44That flag.
03:45That flag is our Bangladeshi flag.
03:48I don't know how could I express it.
03:50It's awesome.
03:51it's awesome I mean to me it's just showing love for me when I was going up
04:00in Bangladesh when I heard about America I really want to see America because I
04:08heard that it's different here about women as a woman I had to suffer a lot
04:16in Bangladesh when we walked to our school guys followed us my dad was killed and
04:24after my dad passed away they just threatened us like we're going to kidnap
04:30you we want to marry you I got married because it wasn't safe there some night
04:37I just woke up and I cried I felt like so helpless
04:45when guys are started to follow my daughter III I felt like what should I
04:52do they waited for her from 5 a.m. in front our home my sister she was here I just
05:05came for visit here and then I thought because I'm having problem maybe I should
05:10try to stay here because you know it's safe here so I applied for asylum when I
05:19first got to Michigan at the morning when I woke up when I saw outside oh my
05:25goodness is so so green I lie down on grass with my daughter and I think it was
05:35the happiest moment in my life but it was really hard time I wasn't ready for anything
05:47literally for anything Reverend Sharon is kind of miracle for me I just told her I I
05:56really need a place to stay with my daughter and I can't be you and she told me yeah you
06:03can stay here
06:10what's that cape you're wearing are you Superman yeah I thought you might be
06:21they're beautiful they're small but they're mighty just like Detroit right okay there's one for each of you do you
06:31like strawberries all right do me a favor and go home and wash them first okay each of you can
06:37have one
06:47I just felt a calling to go someplace where maybe people are a little lost and
06:53broken and forgotten and so when Detroit called to me it was like my heart just
06:58said go the advent of the auto industry in 1910 through 1930 there's great opportunity for workers
07:08those opportunities weren't in the south when the civil rights movement took place in the 60s
07:14there was a lot of unrest and eventually it erupted into violence the rebellion was really against that
07:26feeling of you know we left the south to get away from this we wanted to participate in the American
07:32dream we want to be middle-class people no matter what color we are and it just wasn't working so
07:39right
07:39now we're at Hamtown farms here in Detroit you've got 132 square miles of city and only about 60 some
07:48square miles are occupied it's tempting for people who love to be in the dirt to say wow there's all
07:55this
07:56land right next to downtown but all these empty lots that you see those were homes and they were
08:03just allowed to burn with a mass exodus of whites out of the city the tax base was so eroded
08:11the city
08:12really became broken even right here in this neighborhood if you call 911 they're not even
08:18gonna come unless you say there's a gun involved if you would have told me ten years ago that my
08:29product would be in Kroger I wouldn't believe you if you can handle your own distribution then you've won
08:38because distribution can be a huge challenge it's not often that you have your own commercial driver you
08:49know my husband is my secret weapon it's definitely a warming experience walking in the stores carrying
08:55the pies they're like oh you're Jennifer's husband so yeah and I feel like the grocery stores like that
09:01means a lot to them too like grocery stores have actually said to me we appreciate the fact that you
09:06deliver your own products it keeps it in a family yeah it's a lot better some men might not want
09:15their
09:15wives being a female entrepreneur but he knows that food makes me happy and so I feel like he embraces
09:23it
09:23because he knows that it brings me joy I have so many good people in my life so many good
09:38woman
09:38one more rose every time when I needed some help women are there for me women are active here about
09:50business do you know there are a lot of programs to really help women start and own businesses so I
09:57think it's like sixty to sixty four percent of businesses in Detroit oh my I keep saying you can
10:04do it you have some ideas you know it takes a little courage and sometimes it's just that little boost
10:09and
10:10Detroit is an environment where women can really be successful I'm actually going to a dinner with some
10:16entrepreneurs tomorrow and you should come right welcome hi everyone my name is Molly I own this
10:29restaurant Rose's fine food that's borage actually you can eat these and they're delicious it tastes like
10:36cucumber so we have some cornmeal fried chicken we have some salad it has an apple cider vinaigrette
10:44and some radishes all right thank you yeah food is so so so good thank you so now that when
10:53we open roses we just we're trying to make just food that I was trying to eat when I went
11:00out to breakfast or went out to lunch I wanted eggs that had like orange yolks and I wanted to
11:05make our own bread and I wanted to have organic grits that are stone ground
11:09you're just like I'm doing it you're just like I'm doing it this way I don't care what it costs
11:12I was
11:13just over drafting bouncing checks it's just like a constant challenge you're overwhelmed with all of
11:19these things that you don't understand and you have to figure out and it was a shit show but we
11:26got the food
11:26out and then we just kept going the business community here is like a family it is everybody just wants
11:37to
11:37help you all the time and they want to see you grow there's not that much competition in a mean
11:44way it's
11:45more let's raise each other up together Great Lakes coffee they have a truck now too they have a coffee
11:51truck I have a coffee truck oh shit so it's really tough as a woman in business I get grilled
11:59about my
11:59credentials every single day have you tried this do you have a business degree are you profitable you know
12:06about this coffee do you know about that coffee yeah I know about that coffee I'm a professional when
12:11I'm about to hitch up the trailer men will come at me like they're going to help me my favorite
12:18thing
12:18is to just say don't touch my trailer I am the boss and then I pitch it up and I
12:24go and I say peace
12:28what's next for drifter is opening a coffee shop it's right behind us you can see it it needs a
12:36lot of
12:36work and the dream is have events whether it's a full moon kind of ceremony whether it's a concert
12:45whether it's an art class this has been my dream for 10 years opening the coffee shop and I think
12:52I'm
12:52gonna sit with that for a little bit not that much yes ma'am yeah it's pretty serious so this
13:01is our
13:02lemon butter pie it reminds me of my grandfather and what he used to make and it just gives me
13:09so
13:09many happy memories and I found that when people would eat this pie they would often say that it
13:15reminds them of their childhood so what's this competition so demo day is this huge competition
13:23that is sponsored by Quicken Loans it's at the music hall and they have like over 500 entrepreneurs
13:30first place for my category which is start is a hundred thousand and then if you get the audience
13:35votes you can get 25,000 on top of whatever you want oh my god wow good luck windfall to
13:42start
13:42your expansion exactly exactly so we want to have a manufacturing facility and this would seal the
13:49deal that's amazing hi my name is Jennifer Lyle and I'm a pastry chef from Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School
13:58with a bachelor's degree from Howard University and at Lush Chummies Pie Company we fresh baked lemon
14:03butter pies with local ingredients and a fourth generation recipe now unfortunately my grandfather
14:08was not able to turn his big pie dreams into a reality and so in his honor I plan to
14:12become one
14:12of the largest baked good manufacturers in the US right here in Detroit making not just his lemon
14:18butter pies but all of his pie recipes wow Jennifer you liked it I love it I can't believe this
14:28is my
14:29daughter I can't believe it everything she does she puts her heart and soul in it and I can tell
14:37when
14:37she goes for something she goes all the way if I was to win it would feel like freedom for
14:43me it would
14:44be me being able to take my business to a level that I couldn't take it you know I literally
14:52carried
14:53this business on my back for a very long time and I think that I've taken it kind of as
14:57far as I can take
14:58it and so I need some assistance at this point I just have to stay calm I think that's like
15:08if I can
15:09just remain calm and get my nerves under control I can I can do phenomenal I've practiced for it I
15:17prepare for it I just I want to be undeniable whatever I have to do to be undeniable that that's
15:25it that's what I want to do
15:31I feel like there's a really tough resilient spirit in the city big box wouldn't come to Detroit and
15:38there is all these problems with the bankruptcy and people down in neighborhoods near the diner that
15:42don't have access to water in the face of all that there's been people living here who have just
15:49grown their own food and made art and just made life really beautiful if someone asked me what to
15:57know before opening a food business I would say to learn about business being passionate about food and
16:04our values really has made us slide through some of the harder times but I wish that I had just
16:11known
16:12about like taxes and payroll knowing about those things allows your passion to stay alive we did
16:19get some good press and that helped the business stay busy I think people know that we pay people
16:25well here we try to provide a healthy food access in Detroit it's still a challenge but as long as
16:32people come in the door we'll be okay tell me how can I help you Reverend Sharon told me that
16:41there is a place they
16:42make really good chocolate that's the first time when I heard about Bon Bon Bon ok so my job is
16:50only making shells
16:51I have to pour chocolate into that mold it's not like I want something creative it's kind of I need
17:03it I
17:04have to tap it because we don't want any bubbles in it so now I have to put into the
17:13freezer when I'm making
17:15different kind of flavors and hyping into our tiny little shell all of it's kind of so creative it's awesome
17:25for me I think for the first time I'm being myself
17:39sitting with you guys oh it's so good I mean I'm feeling so happy because all of you are women
17:48and you
17:49are successful women like in or in your own way I think that's that's the key I want to be
17:56able to
17:56help other entrepreneurs too and like you know do maybe help them do their distribution as well for
18:02wholesale help the little guys pay it forward right pay it forward so that's so great you're gonna get
18:09it I can tell I can feel it that's so exciting you will receive it manifest it yes
18:17Detroit in the building make some noise you guys are here for the Detroit demo day for 2018
18:29I need a drink of Ernest
18:37yes I'm ready
18:39ready to get it that way it's real and tonight we are here to award over one million dollars one
18:48million so we're going to start with our start group and they're competing for a grand prize of
18:56one hundred thousand dollars let's get into the competition that's what we're here for right
19:14my granddad taught me to make pie just as his southern mother taught him he shot four ingredients
19:20he picked those lemons toss them from one hand to the other hand he'd smell them hold them up to
19:25his
19:25ear they tell you if they're ready to be eaten or not he say with a smile hi my name
19:29is Jennifer
19:30Lyle and I'm a pastry chef from Le Cordon Bleu with a bachelor's degree from Howard University
19:34in a luscious pie company we fresh baked lemon butter pies with local ingredients and a fourth
19:40generation recipe to date we've sold over 10,000 units of pie and we've recently won the Kroger foods
19:46award and now Kroger wants us to go from five stores to 123 stores with a projected sales growth
19:53with a projected sales growth of 1.3 million dollars I plan to become one of the largest baked
20:00good manufacturers in the U.S. right here in Detroit making not just his lemon butter pies
20:04but all of his pie recipes thank you
20:18Dion who is the winner for the people's choice do we have any theme music?
20:23lush yummy pie company
20:25woo
20:28the final winner for a hundred thousand dollars
20:33lush yummy pie company
20:41oh my god
20:42oh my god
20:43oh my god
20:44woo woo woo woo woo
20:45oh my god
20:48oh my god
20:49oh my god
20:50oh my god
20:57this is my season this is my time now we can grow we can grow like we're supposed to like
21:04i knew we would
21:05i'm happy to be here in the city i'm happy to be a part of it i'm happy to be
21:08able to contribute to it
21:09oh my god i'm so happy i was screaming at the top of my lungs why you really?
21:13yes
21:22like i wish my granddad could have been there yesterday
21:28that would have been nice
21:32he in the hospital but he hanging on he hanging in there
21:36oh my god
21:39our last conversation that we talked when we talked about the pies he was almost in like disbelief
21:45and it's like he's this little boy from alabama not realizing the magnitude that these pies can have on the
21:54world
21:58people being amazing as they are it inspires other people and it kind of just like spark next thing you
22:04know
22:04you see a movement
22:06when everything is done detroit is going to be a sight to see
22:09people who have grand ideas it's a great place to come and start something because it's really supportive
22:14a lot of times people think change comes from the top down but really lasting change comes from the bottom
22:20up
22:20street by street neighborhood by neighborhood it comes from the people
22:24yo gonna start it off by connecting the thread
22:28sew them all together all these dreams in my head
22:31stitch by stitch i will find my way move up and out to better and brighter days time to elevate
22:37and follow my passion let the world know that i'm about that action
22:41let my light show let the word be spread that i could have given up but i decided instead
22:46to start it off from one piece of thread to follow my heart my intuition trail based
22:52the paths they focused on my mission manifest vision make the decision to hold my head high
22:57and find my way cause i know that i'm blessed with each and everything