HELL YEAH, it's a reality check!

What's all this about?
HELL YEAH! is a minority-woman-owned bakery in Atlanta, Georgia (you may know us by our Instagram ). Currently serving Atlanta's community (gluten free and not!) out of my home kitchen, and building out a retail space which will open in Summer 2019. If you've been following us, you'll know we already raised funds through our super successful Kickstarter campaign . So, uh, yeah.. Here we are again.

The thing is, building a bakery from the ground up is hard work, and extremely financially demanding. I knew this going into it, but my concept of *exactly* how much money was a bit... naïve.


Why do you need more money?
Though we raised 32k through Kickstarter, the cost of merchandise & rewards, taxes, and Kickstarter's 10% fee, made it closer to 15k. At this point, I have really done everything I possibly can to build the business and raise money, and to be honest, I'm really afraid. To come this far and not be able to meet our goals of opening this business would be devastating to me, and disappointing to those who love what we do.

You see, friends, this business is really important to me, because I hope to use it as a vehicle for helping all sorts of folks. Our mission is two-fold: We LOVE being Atlanta's choice for allergy-friendly foods so everyone can have a good time, celebrate, and indulge; AND we're hoping that whatever money we make in this venture can be put back into the city we call home–by supporting initiatives to benefit under-served communities. How? We have big plans to offer scholarship-based classes to kids in Title 1 schools; to provide work and learning opportunities to marginalized or passed over folks; and to put resources into neighborhood parks and community centers that need it most.



What's happening with the storefront?
Well, it's going to be done in two weeks. I know, I know, I'm freaking out too!!!!! But that's why we need your help! In two weeks, we are gonna have to pay for a looooooot of stuff.

How are you using the money?
Construction has been a wild time. I've paid $38k of it, and we have about $50k left to go (this doesn't include working capital or startup funds for our first few weeks at the space). About $110k has already been put into the project–my 401k and savings, Kickstarter money and grants, and two personal loans.

Why gofundme?
I'm fundraising on gofundme this time for a few reasons:

• not offering rewards will allow us to focus on building the bakery, and will also allow us to keep more of the funds, since they won't be taxed as income
• gofundme doesn't take 10% off the top of what you make–they collect completely optional donations to cover their platform costs (If you can, please do throw a couple bucks in for them–they work hard to make this platform which enables miracles).
• raising money through crowdfunding only seems appropriate for a project that took root because of our lovely community. y'all are part of the walls, the floors, the benches, everything. and we truly love you for it. doing it this way also helps decrease our debt and $$ obligations, allowing this business to get a good start! 

How else can I help?
We have an Amazon wishlist of things we still need and will always accept gift cards to the Webstaurantstore. (to email address [email redacted])