Kerry Baker, Executive Director of the Key West Chamber of Commerce, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on with businesses.
Fantasy Fest and the boat races helped bolster some of our economy.
Baker said, “It was a rough summer. September was extremely slow. I think when you start looking at the numbers, even if you look at the total sales tax that was collected, it’s down significantly. So I think that’s just a true reflection, that we had a tough summer on businesses and really everybody is affected. I don’t want to even just say businesses, because when businesses aren’t making money, people that are in the service industry aren’t making money, and then, unfortunately, they have to cut non essentials, so that trickles out to the entire community. That’s just a basic fact of having an economy that relies so heavily on tourism. But Fantasy Fest and the boat races definitely gave us a small little shot in the arm that we need for businesses to be able to carry over until season starts. The boat races were definitely fantastic this year. It was really nice to see all of the racers. Fantasy Fest brings in a lot of people. So does the boat races. The boat races is a great family event. It was nice to see so much activity downtown. People out and about. Our restaurants were full. Retail shops were full. So we definitely got some positive feedback from our business community that the boat races were definitely that little shot in the arm that they needed to carry them through season.”
The holiday parade in Key West is coming up.
Baker said, “Our theme again this year is shop locally. It’s reminding all of our residents and visitors, there’s so many great little retail entities in Key West, if you haven’t been to the shops in Mallory Square, upper Duvall, all of the side streets, even White Street down in the historic Key West Sea port, you name it, from custom jewelry, there’s clothing boutiques. You’ve got retail entities. There’s a few little, great stores on Duval street that sell items for your home. Of course, who doesn’t like sweets during the holidays? We’ve got several local businesses that provide different types of sweet packages and options, a lot of local bakeries. Although I think a lot of people like to bake themselves during the holidays, for those that don’t, there’s really something for everyone. So we certainly encourage people, not even just during the holidays, but year round, get out there. Support our small businesses. They really are the heart and soul of our community. They are also the businesses that are giving back to our community. We have a lot of people that are in need, our food pantries. You’ve got various nonprofits, so many of them provide services. I give a little shout out for SOS that has their big Casino Night fundraiser this evening. So looking forward to seeing everyone tonight and raising money for a great cause. And certainly a lot of these organizations do so much for people in need in our community.”
An awards luncheon is coming up on December 10.
Baker said, “On December the 10th, we are going to be recognizing multiple people within the community. We give out our Key West Stars Award, which is given to individuals, and there’s no affiliation to the chamber. These are community awards. So some of them are members of the chamber, but multiple people that are getting awards this year are not members of the chamber. They are residents in the community that go above and beyond and give back to our community through various nonprofits, services. There’s a lot of awards that I’m really honored to be giving this year at our annual awards luncheon. We have a couple of venture awards, business for Beauty Awards for businesses that have done massive, extensive renovations. I’m super excited to be giving an award to a remarkable young lady that started her own nonprofit, and that is going to be exciting. I don’t want to give too much out on it, because we haven’t made our official announcement. That’ll coming out via email in the next couple of days, so people will have opportunity to make reservations, and then we also have a general membership meeting in November. I have Bonnie Barnes coming in from the Small Business Development Organization. This is a great group. It’s Florida SBDC. They provide services for businesses, even individuals that may be looking to open up a business. There are no costs for their services. And Bonnie is going to be coming in and giving us a presentation. I think the topic that I’m going to have her come in and talk about is, next year is right around the corner. Sometimes there’s some simple fixes that you can do to help produce big results. Maybe help you navigate through difficult times, off season times, marketing plans. But really, if you haven’t looked into the Florida SBDC, Bonnie Barnes and her team are a great resource just to businesses and anyone that’s looking to open up business, so I’m excited to have her come in and be our speaker at our luncheon, which is this month, is going to be on Tuesday, November the 25th. Right before Thanksgiving, I know some people are out of town, but there’s still quite a few folks that will be in town that week. So we’re looking forward to having a great meeting. She invited myself and a couple of other individuals to sit on a panel where we got, they did a six weeks course for local business owners, small business owners, and it kind of just taught them the ins and outs. And we were able to sit in and listen to kind of their branding pitch. And it was really nice, because give you a little feedback, but I was super impressed. There was some people in that room that, just starting out, some young business professionals that really were comfortable. They had a great business model, a great business pitch, but I respect the fact that they were looking out for some guidance from established business owners. Because I think anyone that’s in business, anyone that’s been successful in business, will tell you, 99.9% of everybody has a failure story, and it’s okay to have that story. Sometimes we have to fail to succeed. And you don’t look at it as a failure. Look at it as growth. So it’s definitely an opportunity. There’s so much talent in this community, and I found in my 34 years with the chamber, most of those business owners are happy to share that knowledge and just examples, especially when you see young business professionals that are just getting out of there. I’ve met several that are under the age of 30, which I think is fantastic. It’s not easy to have a business in Key West, and to see young professionals really getting out there and striving, I think is really what it’s all about.”
The annual installation for the Chamber will be on January 17.
Baker said, “Our premier sponsor this year is First State Bank, so I thank them. Without our sponsors, the ticket price would have to be a little hefty, so our sponsors help us offset it to where we can keep the ticket price nominal for our members and our guests, but it should be a great event. I’m excited to be partnering with Destination Catering this year. It should be good. It’s a great time. The Chamber always stays busy. We pride ourselves on being available to our members and businesses within the community. If anyone is interested in becoming a member of the chamber, please reach out to myself or Francesca here in the office, our number is 305-294-2587, and you can also find out more information about membership in the chamber on our website. We are just shy of about 600 members of the chamber, and we have members of all sizes. We have larger businesses, smaller businesses. Majority of our members are actually small business owners, so that’s always great to see them out and about. The chamber is an excellent opportunity to network, to meet other business professionals within the community. We encourage business to business support. So when you need printing needs, you need maybe a local CPA, you need a marketing person, all of those resources are available here locally. I think it’s great to see these professionals get together and making connections. We have some smaller events here at the chamber. I’ve seen people build friendships. So it’s really exciting. That’s what the chamber is all about.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keywestchamber.org/