Brooklynite produces versatile, aesthetic ginger syrups

With a do-it-yourself, locally grown mentality and support from ACCION USA, "new entrepreneurs" like Kari are able to harness their dreams into reality.

NYC foodie Kari Morris started Morris Kitchen, a Brooklyn-based ginger syrup manufacturer, over 2 years ago with her brother Tyler. Coming from a family of gourmands, Kari and Tyler's decision to be food and beverage entrepreneurs came as no surprise. "My brother and I wanted to collaborate for awhile, and making ginger syrups seemed like the perfect idea. Something simple and tangible that would harness our shared artistic and culinary backgrounds," Kari explains.

When Kari's brother Tyler moved to Kentucky to start his own restaurant in 2009, she decided to take sole ownership of the ginger syrup operation. Kari debuted her ginger syrup at the GreenPoint Food Market, selling all 40 bottles within an hour. The second market she sold at brought similar results: 500 bottles gone within one weekend. Seeing opportunity for expansion, Kari continued selling to local markets and neighborhood grocery stories and eventually incorporated her business in June, 2011.

With growing demand for Morris Kitchen ginger syrup, which can be drizzled over yogurt or mixed with seltzer for fresh ginger ale, Kari needed to prepare for a busy holiday season. Kari contacted a local bank for a loan but had a difficult time securing financing. Like other young college grads, a short credit history and student loans made it difficult for Kari to find funding to start her business. As a member of The Entrepreneur Space, an incubator offering shared kitchen facilities in Queens, Kari caught wind of an ACCION USA/Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream event in September 2011. ACCION USA Loan Consultant Elizabeth Bueno looked beyond Kari's credit score and approved her with a $9,000 loan which was administered within a week of the event. The loan capital helped Kari increase production, as well as to purchase labels and keep two part-time workers on payroll. "Because of ACCION USA's assistance, I can produce 5 times the amount of ginger syrup and actually have inventory on hand," Kari said.

While having limited supply of product was certainly a challenge, prior to Kari's ACCION USA loan, she now views this limitation as a blessing in disguise, helping to focus her efforts and establish the identity of her product. "It allowed me to be very particular about who we are. We wanted to focus on the integrity of the syrup in small batches and didn't really have the resources to focus on anything else" Kari said. As a result, her ginger syrup has garnered high recognition and praise from the likes of New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Out and Town & Country Magazine and kept high-profile clients like Dean & Deluca's and Ace Hotel wanting more. With an inventory of ginger syrup available and two-part time employees on payroll, Kari has been able to experiment with two new products - a rich molassesy apple cider syrup and a pureed lemon syrup made from local lemons.

Visit Kari's website here to learn more about Morris Kitchen!

To purchase a bottle of ginger syrup, visit ACCION USA's Microfinance Holiday Marketplace!