All-America City projects: The business of pound cakes in Benson, N.C.
June 16, 2009 at 10:30 am by Wayne Garcia
The National Civic League ’s 2009 All-America City Awards conference is starting to register guests tonight in Tampa. We’re highlighting one nominated project from each of the 30 competing cities (10 will be named AAC’s). Here is Benson, N.C.’s delicious entry:
Benson, North Carolina
The Pound Cake Company
In 2003, Jan Matthews-Hodges won the Blue Ribbon and Best in Show at the North Carolina State Fair for her pound cake, and The Pound Cake Company was born. With the help of a $7,500 Microenterprise Loan from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, Jan started the Pound Cake Company in a small downtown location as a part-time enterprise. In fall 2005, Jan began making plans to expand her business, but she needed a much larger space to do so. While Jan was perfecting her pound cake recipe, the Town of Benson, in October 2004, acquired the dilapidated shell of the old Benson Middle School. The goal in this acquisition was to create a business incubator in hopes of creating new jobs for the Town. The Pound Cake Company was to be the first tenant. Government partnerships and grants led to a full-time business in what used to be the Benson Middle School Cafeteria, employing between 15-20 full-time personnel. The Pound Cake Company now distributes to Lowes Foods, The Fresh Market, A Southern Season Gourmet Market and Whole Foods Market. What started as a part-time bakery has become a full fledged industry that will employ over 40 Benson citizens by the end of 2010.
Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-19 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
