L-R: The latest Tama County Economic Development Pitch & Build competitors-- Audrey Smith, Mary Huffman, Brian Gumm and Barb Smith. News-Herald photos/John Speer

“It’s not boring,” said Heath Kellogg, summing up a rousing two hours of pitches from a quartet of Tama County entrepreneurs and “want-to-bes” at the quarterly Tama County Pitch and Build competition at the Reinig-Toledo Civic Center on Tuesday night, Sept. 9. Kellogg is the director of the Tama County Economic Development Commission which sponsors the events.

Those present heard about a plan to expand a coffee bean roasting business, serving coffee and more as a business, an idea to bring real, home-style barbecue to the Tama-Toledo area and the return of an old-fashioned general store.

Judges for the event were Lyle Niemeyer, Marshalltown a representative of SCORE, a nonprofit association which helps small businesses get off the ground, Mike Carnahan, the chair of Tama County Economic Development Board and Jodi Phillips, operator of new businesses including the Perwinkle Place Manor Bed and Breakfast and several new shops on Station Street, all in Chelsea, and winner of the last Pitch and Build competition.

As with past Pitch and Build news stories, you have to wait until the end to find who won the “gold award.”

Here were the “pitchers:

Awarded Silver Tama County Economic Development Pitch & Build awards during competition on Tuesday, Sept. 9 were (l-r) Mary Huffman, Dysart, Barb Smith, Gladbrook and Audrey Smith, Tama. Tama County Economic Development Executive Director Heath Kellogg is with the Gold Award winner, Brian Gumm, Toledo, at right. News-Herald/John Speer

Smith’s General Store, Gladbrook- Less than a year ago, Barb Smith, along with her husband, Dennis, took over the downtown Gladbrook building which had housed DeWitt Appliance and later Lucy’s Country Tole Shop for the past 30 years. They envisioned an old-fashioned country store and she says they have achieved their goal. But not without some obstacles.

Barb related she had been working two jobs and had planned to cut back on employment to work on creating the store. Soon both of her bosses became ill and she found herself working more than ever, she termed it “mega-overtime.”

To add to that, a grandson born on March 25 was in a Des Moines Hospital for seven weeks after birth and the smiths made numerous trips to his Des Moines hospital before he became well. The newborn also had brothers, among them a two-year-old which the Smiths cared for. “He helped me remodel the store,” Barb said.

And that wasn’t quite all. the smiths are in the lawn mowing business taking care of six area cemeteries and a pair of acreages. With Iowa’s favorable weather for lawns this year, it added up to even more work for them.

Barb says they were bale to get their store open on June 6 and business has been growing ever since.

Pitch & Build judges for the competition on Tuesday, Sept. 9, included (l-r) Jodi Phillips, operator of several new Chelsea businesses and the past Pitch & Build competition winner, Lyle Niemeyer, SCORE?volunteer and Mike Carnahan, president of Tama County Economic Development.

She said Gladbrook enjoys world-wide visitors for the Matchstix Marvels Museum. She says her goal “is to make this a destination for all of Iowa and make the store a “must see.”

Not only do they feature “glass bottle pop,” she said there is candy, Iowa-made products, arts and crafts and fine antiques

The shop” portion of the store where Barb creates barn quilts. She makes them from “the heaviest cotton duck canvas” and swears they will outlast any barn quilt painted on wood. She sells them for display both in and outside as “lasting murals.”

KE Black Mercantile, Dysart- Mary Huffman said she always had a desire to operate a retail store. When Mary and Jerry Huffman’s daughter, Kathy Bonewitz, who lives in Colorado, visited them last year she fulfilled her mother’s dream: “You always wanted retail so I bought one for you.”

The “present” was a building which had housed an insurance agency since 1952.

Mary says it included “three walls, a roof and a hole in the wall.” Since then, the Huffmans renovated the property with a concentration on energy efficiency because their store is a free-standing building.

One of their undertakings was a very soft brick wall made from original bricks from a long past Dysart brick yard. With some help they used brushes to gently scrub the wall which extends about three-quarters length of one side of the building. The wall was once place where energy conservation come into play Mary said., the exterior of the wall was coated with foam insulation and covered with steel. The interior displays the historic brick.

What’s within the restored walls?

Mary said the coffee shop portion has sold “more than 1,000 smoothies since opening on June 1.” They host regulars including the businessmen’s group in the mornings and Dysart’s “Blue Hat Women.” There’s lots of out-of-town guests who visit Dysart’s other unique downtown shops. Mary said, “The people of Dysart support us and we try to support them. If you’re not involved in (your) town, you can’t expect customer in town to support you.”

Being added in October is wine by the glass as they carry a selection of wines from an Iowa-produced one to those of Europe and the Napa Valle.y

They have basic kitchen supplies and “all the little gadgets” for sale. The wares of two potters, from Dayton and Williamsburg, both in Iowa, are featured and they strive to have “Made in U.s. A.” products, Mary said.

They are also looking toward serving soup and sandwiches at noon and what ever else “the customers ask for.”

A very popular feature the Huffmans said is their “People Don’t Know What To Buy Me Gift registry.” Comparable to the “Bridal Registry” it allows customers to register their wants.

One guest at the Pitch and Build suggested this would be invaluable for a husband who may have made a spouse unhappy.

Mary notes the “Big Blue Fish” which had been on display in the insurance office for more than 60 years remains in KE Black Mercantile.

The store gets it’s name from a combination of the Huffman’s daughters name “Katherine Elizabeth, and Mary’s mother’s maiden name “Black.”

For the “gift” of the store from Kathy, Mary says she may have a store of her own for her retirement. It will likely have a blue fish.

ALFS, Tama- Audrey Smith was raised “in the south” and lived in Cedar Rapids before coming to Tama 19 years ago. She’s owned and operated her own one-person home cleaning business “We Clean” for the past 15 years.

Since arriving in Tama, Audrey said, “The first thing she really missed was I couldn’t get authentic barbecue – cooked on a pit.”

She now aims to change that. “The plan has been in my mind has been long-term,” she said.

She said she will receive an Iowa Food Service License in October, the first step to her dream of a full-fledged barbecue restaurant in the Tama-Toledo area. She has already bought a smoker to boost the start of her new business.

She estimated it will cost $15,000 for the business for start-up costs.

She said she plans to begin “small” likely offering carry-out and catering. Her cleaning business keeps her very busy still.

Audrey said she has seen restaurant start-ups begin serving freshly-prepared meals only to move to the ease of frozen and other easily made offerings. Her vision is to “have fresh products from family recipes, food we grew up with in the south.”

She has developed barbecue sauces and rubs for chicken, turkey and pork and “is still working on beef.”

Audrey previously worked as a baker in the South Tama Schools lunch program and served as a cafeteria manger before moving to Tama.

“I know how to cook and have always wanted to go back to it and I’m ready to do that,” Audrey said. (It will be) authentic, done slowly – the real deal – not stuck in an oven.”

Ross Street Roasting Company, Brian Gumm, Toledo- “For the past 10 years I have drunk “snobby coffee,” Brian Gumm admitted at the beginning of his pitch. In a previous feature article in The Chronicle, Gumm admitted his wife had relegated him to the garage to roast his coffee beans to produce the “snob” beverage because of the odor.

That’s the garage business he hopes to expand. Located fronting West Ross Street in Toledo, Gumm admitted he now has to run an extension cord from the family home to the garage space to hook up his “equipment.” He uses an air popcorn popper and a heat gun, one bought at Shopko in Toledo, the other from the internet site Craig’s List, to roast about 10 ounces of coffee beans at a time.

He said he got hooked on the bean roasting from his former Mennonite minister when living in Harrisburg, Va. where he and his wife attended graduate school. The minister had a side business selling raw coffee beans which is Brian;s source.

Since returning to their native Iowa (wife, Erin, is a native of rural Toledo and he grew up at Prairie City) Brian has slowly built up a small clientele of customers for the coffee beans he roast numbering about 15 including The Magnolia, a downtown Toledo restaurant and bakery.

He admitted he will need a better equipped space and upgraded equipment to advance the coffee roasting business.

His business plan consists of three phases: Small- expanding locally in the Toledo area and into more of Tama County and including private-labeling, “charity” roasting projects and local grocer outlets; Medium- moving farther out ot include larger population areas including Marshalltown and Grinnell and adding farmers markets, more regional grocers and specialty shops, special events and processing orders from the web; Large- adding the five large metro areas surrounding Tama County including the three university towns and college towns, even more groceries and specialty shops, developing a greater capacity for web orders.

Gumm said the large plan would be at the point he would need to add employees particularly for deliveries.

The winner: The judges named Ross Street Roasting Company, Bran Gumm, as the Gold Award winner Tuesday night. And a fondness for coffee did not influence the judging. Judge Mike Carnahan openly said he didn’t like coffee and did not sample an offering of Gumm’s Ross Street Roasting Company coffee.