Randell Dodge has two passions in life: handbags and baked goods.
Though she”™s dropped the Italian leather for organic eggs, her manner of doing business remains the same. It”™s carefully handcrafted.
Her organic Red Barn Bakery beckons commuters from the neighboring Irvington train station with its brick-walled, industrial ambiance flooded with natural light.
“We”™ve only been open for two months, so it”™s really green,” Dodge said. “My products are not cheap, nor is my produce or my butter. However, we have a lot of repeat customers and I”™ve been doing events for Eileen Fisher in the labs or corporately.”
Dodge is not ashamed to admit her startup was but a microcosm of many influencing factors.
“Because of being entrepreneurial and taking credit risks and things like 9/11 and the downturn occurring, I had gotten myself into a situation where my credit rating was not that great,” she said. “I was not a stellar candidate for traditional banking means.”
After being denied a line of credit, the then-Bedford baker who sold home-baked goods at Mount Kisco Seafood and South Salem Farmer”™s Market, met Ross Weale, an assistant director at Westchester SCORE, a business counseling organization.
“He asked me upon first meeting if I had a business plan, and I didn”™t,” she said. “I”™m very good at creating things, but in terms of putting it down on paper and writing a plan and projections, I was totally green.”
Weale called the business plan a “road map” that in Dodge”™s case would inevitably undergo changes along the way.
“It serves as the launching pad for a funding service because any lender, traditional bank or otherwise, requires a business plan for funding,” Weale said.
Through SCORE, Dodge was able to link up with Hawthorne-based Community Capital Resources, an alternative lender that loaned her $25,000 to get Red Barn off the ground.
Baking has been in Dodge”™s blood since the age of 12.
Later in life, she designed handbags, which she sold through a line at Barney”™s and Neiman Marcus. A mass-market line sold on QVC came next.
“Three years ago, when the economy was tanking, I found people were no longer buying luxury goods as they were earlier, so I decided to follow a dream,” Dodge said.
The name Red Barn is somewhat sentimental to Dodge, who fondly recalled the red barns littering the north fork of Long Island, where her parents owned a home.
“I”™ve never worked so hard in my life,” Dodge said, of her new venture. “I leave at 8:30 or 9 p.m., and I”™m here every morning at a quarter to 6.”
Despite the inherent challenges, the recession may have made entrepreneurial outlets that much more attractive.
“We”™re seeing tremendous demand,” said Jim Eppinger, vice chairman and counselor at Putnam SCORE. “We usually have six to eight clients a day and right now, we”™re open two days a week. But we”™re doing evenings now and onsite counseling. The funny part of this is, I retired from SCORE in order to write a book. My problem is: I can”™t retire.”
