These four Camden food businesses received loans from the Camden Food Fund

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Nicole Campbell, co-owner of El Burger Bar Restaurant and Catering in Camden, was relieved when she learned they were receiving a $15,000 loan from The Camden Food Fund.

The East Camden native owns the business with her brother Mark Campbell and they had a successful brick-and-mortar in Camden for five years. But the Campbells had to leave the space a year ago due to complications after renovating it twice and unsuccessfully trying to buy the building.

El Burger Bar is one of four food businesses in Camden approved to receive a pilot loan from the Camden Food Fund, a component fund of the Community Foundation of South Jersey (CFSJ).

The fund’s launch was made possible by a multiyear grant to the Community Foundation from The Campbell’s Foundation, which provided the first round of capital for these four pilot loans, a press release stated.

While it’s not open yet, Campbell and her brother have secured a new space on the 1000 block of Haddon Avenue.

“The new building that I’ve gotten, the owner told us a spring opening,” said Nicole Campbell, who has been offering catering. “The renovations inside are done. We have a few things to do on the outside.”

The Campbells’ loan will help with the cost of equipment upgrades.

“The State of New Jersey has now required different equipment, like Energy Star equipment. Although this is the same exact grill, the same exact fryers, the same exact hood, they now require it to be Energy Star.”

What is the Camden Food Fund?

The Camden Food Fund, launched in 2022, “was created to build wealth, increase capacity, and contribute to improved food security and health impacts for Camden residents,” the release said.

Its initial investments are “character-based loans” which “go beyond a credit score and look at the whole picture of a person’s ability to pay back a loan,” the release added.

“I’m from East Camden,” said Nicole Campbell, who graduated from the old Edgewood High School, which is now Winslow Township High, after her parents moved the family.

“That’s why our initial location was East Camden, (on the 3300 block of) Federal Street. My brother and I were born and raised in East Camden. Our parents later moved us to the suburbs but then when thinking about what to do to give back to the city, my brother was like, ‘let’s do a restaurant’, he was like ‘you cook, I cook’.”

The three other businesses selected to receive funds, which ranged from $10,000 to $15,000 are:

● Exquisite Catering has secured a location to start up its breakfast and lunch takeout business in connection with a ghost kitchen space.● Shelpots, a Halal brick-and-mortar restaurant that lost its previous location due to a rent hike, is using the funds to reopen a take-out and catering business in Camden.● The Breakfast Palace, a brick-and-mortar cafe that provides breakfast up until about 3:30 p.m, plans to furnish an outdoor dining area.

The business owners also were given access to technical assistance resources.

Improving, growing an outdoor space

“The $15,000 is to furnish the backyard,” said Samyria Parker, owner of The Breakfast Palace, which has been open for one year.

She may add an outdoor fireplace and needs sufficient lighting and tables and chairs. Parker said she previously received a grant from the city and Saint Joseph’s Carpenter Society through the Camden Strong Facade Program to re-do the outside space, but it needs furnishing and decorating.

The Breakfast Palace, located at 34th and Federal streets, recently introduced cheesesteaks, chicken cheesesteaks, and salmon cheesesteaks to its menu, along with homemade turkey and beef burgers.

“It definitely was a little hard for me getting to this point,” said Parker, who resides in Pennsauken, but also grew up in East Camden. “I didn’t want to swallow up any debt for this business because I’m renting this space, and I said if I ever went into some type of big loan it would be for me purchasing another building.”

The Camden Food Fund plans to launch a second pilot this spring with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, it said. This funding, which is targeting eight more entrepreneurs, will increase the maximum loan amount to $50,000 and will again include a technical assistance program.

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