- Soul 2 Go is a family owned business that attributes the high demand of their weekly BBQ dinners to the grand opening of their brick and mortar location
- Motor City Match has awarded $9.1M in cash grants, 82% of overall winners are minority-owned businesses and 71% women-owned
- 136 operating brick-and-mortar businesses have opened to date
June 9, 2022 (DETROIT) – Soul 2 Go, a carry out restaurant made for quick, efficient, and convenient soul food, celebrated its Eastside grand opening on June 9th. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison announced that the Motor City Match (MCM) Round 9 awardee received a $35,000 cash grant to help open the carry-out restaurant. The restaurant located at 9900 Whittier in Detroit, offers a variety of soulful carry-out options in a family-friendly environment.
The restaurant is a family owned business, offering delicious food including BBQ, collard greens, candied yams and more. The owner Travez Daniels attributes the business idea to his mother Tiffani Swint’s cooking. “The business came about from my mother always being a great cook and everyone always wanting her food and BBQ sauce,” said Daniels. He said, “It was in such high demand that we decided to start selling BBQ dinners on Fridays. We found so much success in doing that for a month we expanded to selling dinners on Saturdays. At that point we realized we can make Soul 2 Go an actual dream come true.”
Deputy Mayor Bettison said, “Helping Detroiters create generational wealth is one of the goals of Motor City Match. It’s exciting to watch Travez share his family’s recipes and traditions to create a new soul food restaurant for the Yorkshire Woods neighborhood. Soul 2 Go is going to be a great addition to the community and a catalyst for more small business growth along the Whittier corridor.”
“Motor City Match connects business owners to a growing network of support, offers critical business services, and maps out the path from idea to open. We are elated to continue supporting Detroit’s small business community as it thrives,” said Drew Lucco, Motor City Match Program Director.
After 19 rounds, Motor City Match has distributed $9.1 million in grants for start-ups and new businesses located throughout the city of Detroit. Through the pipeline of resources provided by the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation’s small business teams, more than 1,400 businesses have received assistance along their journey to open their doors. This is all part of the organization’s greater goal to enhance the city’s economic development and beautify its commercial corridors.
Motor City Match continues to grow Detroit’s small-business landscape
Combined with its other small business programming, DEGC is creating a sustainable small business environment that nurtures new concepts and ideas. Motor City Match offers business owners a wide range of assistance in four tracks: Plan, Develop, Design, and Cash. The program helps Detroit entrepreneurs plan, formalize, and launch their business by providing business planning classes, site-selection assistance, financial planning, legal aid, design services, and gap funding.
Through 19 rounds of Motor City Match:
- Total cash grants: $9.1 million (Total leveraged investment: $54 million)
- Total business open: 136
- 82 percent are minority-owned businesses
- 71 percent are women-owned businesses
- 65 percent are businesses owned by Detroit residents
About Motor City Match
Motor City Match is a unique partnership between the City of Detroit, the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), the Economic Development Corporation of the City of Detroit (EDC) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Competitive financial assistance is supported by a broad partnership of Southeast Michigan community development financial institutions and corporations including, Bank of America, Fifth Third Bank, Ford Foundation, Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Foundation, Hudson Webber Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, New Economy Initiative, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Motor City Match applications are available quarterly. More information is available at www.MotorCityMatch.com