Cooking with Que
Highlight
Cooking with Que
Black woman-owned business feeding her community
Financing
$35,000 Loan
Business Assistance
Pre-financing brand accelerator & post‑financing customized support focusing on financial operations and marketing
Detroit, Michigan
“With Fair Food Network’s support, I was able to pivot my company to not only stay in business, but help feed my community through the pandemic. Having access to healthy food has never been more important — both to make it through this crisis and ensure we come back stronger.”
Quiana “Que” Broden
Cooking with Que, Detroit, MI
In spring 2019, Quiana “Que” Broden launched “The Kitchen, by Cooking with Que,” her eponymous state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen and shared culinary space in Detroit’s New Center neighborhood.
Through grit, determination, and an irrepressibly effervescent personality, Que’s business took off, growing month over month. In addition to cooking demonstrations, Que offered in-house meal service, catering and pop-ups, and team building events. But the service she became most known for was meal prep, which she added to her menu at the end of 2019.
Fair Food Network started working with Que in January 2019 through a six-week brand training we delivered as part of our work with the Michigan Good Food Fund.
When COVID-19 struck, businesses like Que’s shut down. But Que responded with innovation, quickly ramping up meal prep and delivery services as a viable business line.
Fair Food Network responded in kind, providing both wrap-around business assistance and catalytic capital to Que’s business. With one-on-one consulting, we worked with Que to pivot her business model during the COVID crisis. Technical assistance included bi-weekly financial trainings on topics from understanding balance sheets to maintaining cash flow and other topics. We also supported her in connecting with existing lenders to secure deferrals for loan payments. Finally, we engaged CPA consulting to help tune up business accounting practices.
In addition to business assistance, we were thrilled to provide Cooking with Que a $35,000 loan through our Fair Food Fund. We also provided follow-on business assistance, including public relations and social media consulting to increase sales.
Together, our integrated financing and business assistance support helped Que not only weather the transition but continue to be a leader in her community. At the height of the pandemic, Que provided food to quarantine locations and Detroit city employees working 24/7. She recently secured another contract with the city to provide meals for those who have to quarantine. Today her business is on the rise: She has brought on four new employees and 2020 sales were up 75 percent compared to the previous year.