Latest news with #FunkytownBrewery
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tapped Into Tradition: Black-Owned Chicago Brewery Fundraising To Open New Location
A Chicago Black-owned business called Funkytown Brewery is fundraising to open up a new taproom on the West Side. The first-time entrepreneurs have been consistently growing in the craft beer industry, but CEO Rich Broomfield is now hoping to grow further than just distributing. An endeavor really taking off during Black History Month, the Funkytown Brewery is pushing to finally open up a taproom of its own. Broomfield described the upcoming change as an effort to become more integrated into Chicago culture and rooted in a community that they have served since 2021. Broomfield, who is also the co-founder of Funkytown, told ABC 7 Chicago, 'So, we've been on the market since October 2021, growing rapidly. We got into the United Center, Soldier Field, Guaranteed Rate, Wrigley Field, Whole Foods, Jewel, Binny's, and Mariano's. We expanded to Wisconsin, expanded into northern Indiana.' As of now, Funkytown operates solely by distributing its crafted beer to bars and grocery stores, but with the recent move to revitalize the West Side of Chicago, Funkytown hopes to open up a brick-and-mortar taproom near the United Center. Broomfield spoke on the decision to go for a location in the Center. 'United Center doesn't have the most fun let out,' Broomfield stated. 'We need those third spaces. Those are where the conversations happen. And like, we're just here to take our own space, our own niche, and view on hospitality and bring a product that everybody's familiar with.' The Funkytown Brewery has been campaigning and fundraising for three months so far, asking for help from both big investors and community-based organizations to hopefully raise $5 million to buy a new West Side building. Although Broomfield has no shortage of aspirations, the Brewery has been facing struggles when it comes to receiving funding. The Federal Reserve previously reported that Black business owners are more likely to receive less funding and be denied loans in comparison to their similarly situated white counterparts. Broomfield recalled, 'We're first-time entrepreneurs. We started this business with $3,500 in our business account.''That's not, it's not realistic. There's no rich uncle or aunt that's going to get it started with $50 or $100K. You just kind of have to bootstrap it yourself,' Broomfield added. 'Think about it if we actually had some funds behind us this whole time. Funkytown would be a household name.' The Funkytown Brewery not only wants to expand its business, but it also wants to be a part of a change that makes craft beers available to underserved groups who typically would not have access to the resources or business opportunities. Broomfield explained, 'We want to make sure that we're accessible by public transit and by the underserved groups that don't have craft breweries in their neighborhoods. You got to be intentional if you want to reach people, and that's what we're going to do, intentional in our outreach.' Once Funkytown can open its new location, Broomfield has revealed plans to hire more staff for the West Side location. RELATED CONTENT: Black-Owned Brewery Set To Open in Chicago Neighborhood
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pritzker takes aim at Trump tariffs with business tours, calls to foreign officials
When President Donald Trump announced plans to issue tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China last week, the backlash from Illinois leaders was swift. The duties on Mexico and Canada were 'paused' by Monday afternoon amid negotiations between the nation's leaders, but that didn't stop Gov. JB Pritzker from frequently taking aim at the tariffs — and Trump — this week. On Friday, at an announcement of a new tax credit for Freedman Seating, a Chicago-based vehicle seat manufacturer, Pritzker criticized the president's attempts to impose the tariffs. 'Affordability and jobs are potentially the victims of that trade war,' Pritzker said. 'Tariffs are a tax paid for by consumers. In the end, it's a tax on working families and on small businesses.' Freedman Seating agreed to invest $4 million for capital upgrades at its Chicago facility and is set to get a state tax credit as part of a deal to create 50 new jobs and keep 676 existing ones. The deal is part of Illinois' Economic Development for a Growing Economy program. That company was the latest Pritzker visited in what became a week of campaigning against the tariffs. On Thursday, he visited Darvin Furniture in Orland Park and Funkytown Brewery in Chicago to discuss the proposed duties. The furniture store already put a hold on a deal with a Canadian supplier, according to Pritzker's office. Trump's reasons for the tariffs aren't relevant to Canada, Pritzker argued Friday. 'With regard to Canada, 1% of all the fentanyl that ends up in the United States is coming from the northern border, from Canada,' he said. 'One percent, that's the emergency he's going after. Immigration is the second of the two emergencies that he has declared in order to put these tariffs on. Immigration — that is not a problem from Canada.' On Wednesday, Pritzker called Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman and Consul General of Mexico in Chicago Reyna Torres Mendivil to discuss the tariffs. On Friday, he said he urged them to make sure their respective countries 'don't retaliate' against products that are important to companies in Illinois. Pritzker also went after Trump's disbandment of diversity, equity, and inclusion frameworks, calling the move an attack on civil rights during Friday's news conference. And he criticized the Trump administration's federal funding freeze, saying it was actually a freeze on programs that keep Illinois safe, specifically local law enforcement agencies. 'It's a massive effort to distract from what they are doing across the country, to take away things that working-class, middle-class people, families, and the most vulnerable really need,' he said. Trump's actions may also pump the brakes on one of Pritzker's signature policy goals: reducing the state's carbon footprint. Pritzker set a goal to have 1 million electric vehicles on Illinois roads by 2030. Pritzker's administration has also awarded more than $1.1 billion in tax breaks meant to bolster the EV industry supply chain since 2022. But that effort could face new headwinds after the Trump administration told states Thursday it was suspending funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, a Biden-era program that was originally designed to put $5 billion toward building new EV chargers. The Illinois Department of Transportation, which administers the program in Illinois, announced in September that it approved $25 million for the first round of funding. Illinois was set to receive as much as $148 million in total through 2027 as part of the program. Drive an electric vehicle in the metro-east? Here's where you can charge up for free Late last year, the department extended the application window for the second round and was accepting applications as recently as this week, according to its website. Pritzker also on Thursday took on a new role as co-chair of 'America is All In,' an advocacy group aimed at a 'whole-of-society' response to climate change. It originated during the first Trump administration after state elected officials and business leaders — including Pritzker — wanted to signal that they would still take aggressive action on climate change after Trump said he would pull the U.S. out of a 2016 U.N. agreement committing the nation to reducing its carbon emissions. 'We cannot be afraid to tell the truth: the climate crisis is real and we must tackle it with action that protects us from natural disasters and builds a strong clean energy economy with good-paying jobs,' Pritzker said in a statement 'It's clear that states like Illinois and cities, businesses, and institutions will be where climate action presses forward.'
