Kauffman FastTrac provides road map for business growth in Ormond Beach

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – When you open the 100-year-old front doors and walk into the building that houses the Novel Tea Book Shop, you cannot help but feel a sense of calm.

Co-owner Stephanie Gonter says, “Come in, take a deep breath, and just relax.”

Local artist and co-owner Angel Lowden brewed a pot of loose-leaf tea as yours truly sat down to speak with Gonter.

“The tea brings that calming effect, and it really just kind of fits with what the environment we wanted to create here,” Gonter said.

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In 2022, Lowden bought the building at 150 Tomoka Ave. She opened an art studio, gallery, and boutique called “The Studio by Artist Angel Lowden.” A year later, Lowden found Gonter on Instagram. At that time, Gonter was selling books at local markets, using her late father’s book collection as her initial inventory.

“She offered for me to open the book and tea portion here. And then over the course of the next three months, we just kept growing and growing together to where it just became very cohesive,” Gonter recalled.

Now, the shop features local artwork, books, and a variety of handmade items, including jewelry, candles, and baked goods.

“We say we are the general store for creatives,” Gonter said.

Despite their early success, Gonter and Lowden knew they needed a plan to scale their business.

“How can I take it to the next level? We’ve got to grow,” Gonter said. So, in 2024, she applied for the Kauffman FastTrac program.

The program is a 10-week course designed to help entrepreneurs develop business plans and growth strategies. In 2021, the Ormond Beach Economic Development Department partnered with the Volusia/Flagler branch of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) to provide the program as a response to the pandemic, which highlighted the need to strengthen their local small businesses.

“The FastTrac program really provides the foundation and the curriculum for small businesses to follow,” said Brian Rademacher, director of the Economic Development Department. Rademacher said participants receive guidance on business planning, branding, marketing, profitability analysis, and funding opportunities.

“It’s important to provide them the tools and the programs they need to grow because they are the backbone of our community,” he said. “Any big business that you have in your community always started out as a small business.”

Gonter said the program gave her the direction she needed.

“We have a lot of plans for doing subscription boxes, wholesaling the teas—different things like that—that I never would have been able to do in the first two years of my business without really kind of having a map,” she remarked. “FastTrac really gave me that map to be able to know that this is where I want to go.”

The shop also prioritizes supporting other local businesses.

“We really have built a community here,” Gonter said. “We support local as much as possible.”

That local focus extends to the building itself, which holds a special place in Ormond Beach’s history.

Built in the early 1900s, the space was originally home to the Francis family in what was called New Britain at the time. The local general store burned down, so the Francis family moved to the back of the property and turned their house into the general store. And once Ormond Beach was incorporated and became a city, they added a post office.

“We love the fact that, given that it has so much history and intrigue here in Ormond Beach, it’s a fun little addition for us,” Gonter said. “As we say, we are the general store for creatives.”

The current Kauffman FastTrac session began Feb. 8 and runs through April 12, 2025. The city plans to run the program around that same time every year for the foreseeable future. For more information, click here.

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