The Emporia Public Library hosted a panel of women business owners March 31. Kim Redeker, the owner of The Sweet Granada, and Susan Brinkman, the owner of Bourbon Cowboy were the panelists and Jeanine McKenna, the president and CEO of the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce, was the emcee.

Redeker’s business started in 2004 when her and her mother, Toni Bowling, decided to try their hand at entrepreneurship and lease a storefront in the Granada Theater during its capital campaign.

“We peaked in the windows, and this isn’t an exaggeration, there were trash bags and wires hanging from the ceiling and stains all over the walls,” said Redeker. “I thought ‘gosh, she (Bowling) is never going to go for this’ but I thought that was just the cutest little sore front. Almost in unison, we said ‘what about chocolate’.”

The women didn’t know how to make candy or run a cash register, however, Redeker, who had 14 years of marketing experience, “knew how to sell things.” 

They made their business plan and the rest is history. Since their founding, The Sweet Granada has expanded and grew from a staff of two to a staff of about 18.

Brinkman started her business in 2016. She wanted to take an old, vacant, and deteriorating building downtown and “put it back in production.”

Brinkman lacked business experience, in fact, her business plan was rewritten 27 times; however, one thing she knew how to do was manage a bar.

“I took a start-your-own business class and they said ‘you’ve got to do something you know how to do,’” said Brinkman. “Well, I know how to bartend and I know how bars run and I managed a bar in Emporia all through my undergraduate and graduate days; I think I know how to do a nightclub.”

Since starting her business, she has gone from a staff of nine to a staff of 25.

Both Redeker’s and Brinkman’s businesses survived the pandemic and are looking at new ways to grow and serve the Emporia community.