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00:00What up, Doe? Detroit. I am Charity Dean. I'm the president and CEO of the Michigan Black Business Alliance.
00:06Happy to be here today. Happy Tuesday.
00:08Yes, we do this on Tuesdays at 930. You brought a special guest with you.
00:12I did. I did. Go ahead and introduce yourself.
00:14My name is Leona Milton. I'm the owner of What's the Deal Deli in the City.
00:18That's right.
00:19Miss Milton, welcome to the show.
00:22How did you get with the Black Alliance? How business alliance? How did that happen with you?
00:29So I started off at the pop-up shops. So their name came up one day when she was first
00:35getting started.
00:35We actually started at the same time. I didn't know it. And I said, wow, I want to be a
00:39part of an organization.
00:41So they had a new member gathering or something, and me and my husband went there, and that's how I
00:48got started.
00:49Wow. And you do what exactly for those that are listening?
00:53Yeah. So What's the Deal offers stuffed pickle sandwiches and replaced the bread.
00:59So all of our sandwiches are breadless. So we have pickle sandwiches, tomato sandwiches, vegan options as well.
01:07They stuff with deli meats, cheeses, vegetables, giving you a healthier, more affordable way of eating in the city.
01:13And you are located where?
01:15We're located at 4088 West McNichols. It's right across the street from the University of Mercy on Sixth Mound and
01:21Livernois.
01:22People would want to know, how do you start a sandwich business without bread? What brought that idea?
01:31COVID. So we started during COVID. I was then introduced to a pop-up shop. This is the way I've
01:36been eating my food all my life.
01:38I didn't think nobody else would like it, right? So I was introduced to a pop-up shop.
01:42I took my idea to that pop-up shop, and it kept selling out. It sold out everywhere I went.
01:46So I no longer had to look for the pop-up shops. They were now looking for me because I
01:51brought the crowd.
01:52So I just kept going with that. It was never planned. It's just something that fell in my lap, and
01:57I just kept moving forward with it.
01:58So when I met you, we were at the parade together, Palmer Park.
02:02Yes.
02:03Was that a beginning, middle? Where were you?
02:06No, no, no. We partnered with Welcome Home Yoga, right?
02:08Don't sell them out of Livernois.
02:09All right.
02:10They're one of our number one customers as well. They love our vegan options, and her crowd loves our vegan
02:16options.
02:16So she wanted me to come to advertise, show people about what's the deal.
02:23You gave away free samples and stuff?
02:24Free samples, yeah.
02:25Yes.
02:25I gave away free samples, free pickle juice. Pickle juice is hydrating.
02:29So the runners, it was a run.
02:31Right.
02:31It was a 5K run.
02:32Yep.
02:32Raising money for the LGBTQ community.
02:37Right.
02:37So we set up the table and gave our pickle juice shots, and everybody, they still come to our restaurant
02:44to this day.
02:45That was, we started with them, I think, three years.
02:47Yeah.
02:47We didn't do it this year because we had some mishaps, but last year and the year before that.
02:52So we started in 2020, but that run started, I think she started it in 2023.
02:56Excellent.
02:57I remember you.
02:58So, Attorney Dean, when you find a business person like this, what do you lend to them?
03:07You know, it's funny.
03:08We really connected through our Hardy Hospitality Program.
03:11So we have a program that's focused on food and beverage entrepreneurs, and so we help food and beverage entrepreneurs
03:17grow scale.
03:18And so even though I run the Michigan Black Business Alliance, I was participating in that cohort for my coffee
03:25shop.
03:26And so that's when I learned about what's the deal.
03:29But she had already been a member for years, and also I tasted the pickle sandwich, and I was sold.
03:35I love it.
03:36Yes.
03:36So she went through that cohort and learning about scaling.
03:40And so she just did.
03:42And for those who are listening and may not understand that terminology, scaling.
03:46Yeah.
03:46Yeah, growing, right?
03:48So it's one thing to have an idea.
03:50It's another thing to start the idea.
03:52And then how do you make that idea grow so that you can actually make money, turn a profit, and
03:58build generational wealth?
03:59That's what we're trying to do at the Black Business Alliance.
04:01Yes.
04:02And that's what I learned in her class as I was sitting there.
04:05So you took a class?
04:06Yeah.
04:06The hospitality class with BBA.
04:09And before you explain what you got from it, what made you feel that you needed to take that hospitality
04:16class?
04:17Because that's the information I needed.
04:20So I'm a chef first, and then I'm an entrepreneur.
04:23So as I was going in this business, I knew I needed more information to grow.
04:28I didn't know where to go.
04:29They always hit on everything that I'm thinking.
04:32So I'm like, dang, let me go to this class and see about scaling and see what information they have
04:37for me.
04:38And they had a lot of great information.
04:39It was very helpful.
04:41I think the thing is that sometimes we start businesses, especially Black folks.
04:44We start businesses because it's a hobby or something that people want.
04:47And so we end up doing the thing and then realize, oh, I have a business to run.
04:52I have to actually not just make the sandwich, but I got to build a business behind the sandwich.
04:57Yeah.
04:57My father always told me, don't be afraid of success.
05:01I felt like I was afraid of success because I knew what came along with it.
05:04But joining her program and meeting the people and networking, it really helped me say, okay,
05:09let's let down this guard and let's go ahead and move forward and give it 100%.
05:13So you felt that you knew what you were doing.
05:16Yes.
05:18I didn't know how to do it.
05:20You didn't know how to do it.
05:21Right.
05:21How to scale it.
05:22And, but at first you didn't care.
05:26Right.
05:26You were just going to go ahead and do it your way.
05:28Yes.
05:29Yeah.
05:30What was it that said to you, well, maybe I better listen to someone who has more experience at it?
05:39Um, what, what caused that?
05:42The growing, the more customers, the opportunities.
05:46The better it got.
05:47The better it got, the more, the busier it got, the more nervous I got.
05:51Because I'm like, oh my God, I know I took it this far, but maybe somebody need to step in
05:54and teach me how to go further.
05:56Because like I said, I didn't go to school to be an entrepreneur.
05:58I went to school to be a chef and it blew up and now I have to be this person
06:01to run this huge business that everybody loves.
06:04And they seem like they look up to me, they ask me a lot of questions about business that I
06:08don't know how to answer to sometimes.
06:10So being in programs like MBBA will give me, uh, help me with that answer that I need to give
06:15the next person sometimes.
06:16And how long have you been associated with them again?
06:18Uh, since 2020.
06:19Since 2020.
06:21What's the funnest thing from the business side that you enjoy now?
06:27The people.
06:27I love talking to people.
06:29I love engaging with my community.
06:31I love the fact that people look up to me and they see that I come from nothing, broke, you
06:37know, and I started something with zero dollars and I'm building it to this scalable company that we're going to
06:42be franchising soon.
06:44Excellent.
06:44That's our next step.
06:45So it makes, it gives me so much joy.
06:48I never did this for money.
06:49If money was never the goal, but I knew it would come along with it.
06:52So my concentration was like to show people that no matter where you come from or no matter what you
06:58have, put a hundred percent in and have some consistency about yourself and you can do whatever you put your
07:03mind to.
07:04And I'm giving proof of that.
07:05You mentioned your husband.
07:07What role does he play in all of this, if any?
07:10Yeah, my husband, Kenny, he played a major role because I needed a backbone.
07:14I mean, I always had the ability to do something big.
07:17I just never had that backbone.
07:18I never had somebody in my life that I knew I was comfortable with, the stability to give me the
07:23confidence to know that I can move forward.
07:25And he, if I fall, he going to pick me up.
07:28So he gave me that stability I needed to start a business.
07:31So I love him.
07:32I appreciate him.
07:33I love you, Kenny.
07:34And I appreciate everything you're doing.
07:36Hi, Kenny.
07:36Hey, Kenny.
07:37So listen, how did you come up with the pickle, the breadless sandwich?
07:42What happened?
07:44So I used to eat my food like that, you know, wrap my, I'm not a big bread eater.
07:47Me neither.
07:48So this is where I want to get to this.
07:50So you know, bread makes your stomach swell up.
07:51There you go.
07:52Period.
07:55And I used to wrap my meat around my pickle.
07:58So we had to, yeah, like I love snacks.
08:02Like I take my crackers and my meat and my cheese.
08:05That's who I am.
08:06Okay.
08:07So we had to find a way to put that together.
08:10And I don't know, I just started making my pickle sandwich a long time ago.
08:15So I took, like I said, I took the idea.
08:17I took the idea to the pop-up shop and it just blew up.
08:21Excellent.
08:21Yeah.
08:22Is it difficult, attorney, to take a business, people who do pop-ups?
08:28Do they tell you, I'm good, I really don't need, you know, I'm good?
08:34I'll say this.
08:35What's that challenge like for you and what you do?
08:38Entrepreneurship is a journey, right?
08:40So even at every stage of the business, there's something that we need, even if it's just to be in
08:47a community of other people that are doing the same thing and going through the same struggle.
08:51So for us at the Black Business Alliance, we have members that don't even have a business but have an
08:58idea and want to walk through what that idea could look like to people that have been in business 40
09:03and 50 years.
09:04And I think that if you take black businesses and you give them the supports that they need and you
09:09give them the community that they need and the resources that they need, then you will find that we can
09:14grow and we can make our own money and we don't have to rely on someone to come and save
09:19the day because no one's coming.
09:21Good stuff.
09:23All right.
09:24Angie, do you have any more questions?
09:26Just advice for somebody that thinks outside of the box because I was an outside of the box creative idea,
09:33I think.
09:34I think, you know, you took something that you loved and, again, I heard that when you fulfill a niche
09:39or something that's in need, you get rich.
09:41Did that rhyme?
09:42Oh, I like that.
09:43That's true.
09:43Fill a niche, you get rich.
09:45So some advice for an aspiring entrepreneur out there.
09:49My advice would be try to surround yourself with people that's like-minded, right?
09:54You always think like, oh, and nobody thinking like me.
09:56Yes, it is.
09:57When I joined MBBA, I was surrounded by like-minded people.
10:00We finished each other's sentences.
10:01We all going through the same exact thing.
10:04And it's crazy.
10:05Like, I never knew it was other people out here that had my mindset.
10:08Like, they think like me.
10:10So that made me more comfortable to believe, like, what I'm going through is normal now.
10:13Excellent.
10:14Versus being around people that call me crazy and thought that I'm doing, you know, stupid things.
10:20That's stupid.
10:21Why are you doing that?
10:22Have a stronger mind.
10:24Surround yourself around people that is like-minded.
10:28And before you start, just make sure you got some money in the bank.
10:31It takes money to make money.
10:33I understand that now because if it wasn't for the city of Detroit and all these excellent nonprofit programs, what's
10:39the deal would not exist?
10:41I don't know any other city that helps you as much as Detroit does when you're trying to start a
10:45business.
10:46So many.
10:47I have so many nonprofits and organizations.
10:50It wasn't about money.
10:51It was about the education.
10:53It was about the just taking your hand and let you know, hey, it's okay.
10:56This is the right path.
10:57This is the right way.
10:58Keep going.
10:59A lot of grants.
11:00A lot of assistance.
11:01And I really, really appreciate the city.
11:05I appreciate my customers.
11:07They're just so loyal when you treat people good and have some good customer service about yourself.
11:12Treat others the way you want to be treated.
11:14That's one of my main things.
11:15When you walk in my restaurant, we say what?
11:17What's the deal?
11:18When you first walk in.
11:19And we're going to greet you.
11:21We're going to treat you like family.
11:22I don't care if I was selling the auto parts, hair, nails, a service.
11:26Have some good customer service and they're going to return.
11:29Even if the food is bad, they'll return just because they know that energy that you're going to give them.
11:33It's going to help them out throughout the day.
11:35You get a bill.
11:36Yeah.
11:36Oh, yeah.
11:37That's a bill.
11:39Closing thoughts, attorney.
11:41Yeah.
11:41I mean, we are actually tomorrow at 4 o'clock going to be at Duo.
11:45And it's for the folks that are in the food and beverage industry.
11:48So if you want to come out and learn about the Black Business Alliance, if you have a restaurant, a
11:52cafe, or you're a caterer, please come and join us.
11:56It'll be community.
11:56We're going to be talking about how to get some money for your food business.
12:00But we'll see you tomorrow at Duo.
12:03And, again, follow us at blackbizalliance.com.
12:06And we're on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, all the things.
12:09Ms. Milton, attorney dean.
12:11Thank you both.
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