In this installment of the Re.Fund Your Dreams series, host and successful entrepreneur Justina Blakeney teams up with Innovation Refunds to help Post & Beam co-owners John and Roni Cleveland build business strategies that will help them achieve their dreams.
Since 2012, Post & Beam has been a neighborhood staple in Baldwin Hills, serving up farm-to-table comfort food to wildly positive reviews. The menu has always been inventive, dishing out items like braised oxtail grilled cheese, with a focus on fresh flavors. In fact, owners John and Roni Cleveland often used ingredients like citrus and herbs grown in their very own backyard. The couple, who started working at Post & Beam as a chef and maître d’, bought the restaurant in 2019. But when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, the Clevelands had to pivot their business model, fast.
The restaurant — like countless others — needed to tap all of their resources and make serious changes to its menu and service to survive. “Chef John, who is amazing and the heart of our business, made sure to pivot, which is what a lot of businesses are scared to do,” Roni says. “We were doing a lot of things with our menu, but we had to pivot to being a pizza shop.” The restaurant had served pizza from the beginning, but it was never a staple. Now, with no-contact dining and a desire for affordable takeout, the pair spotted an opening in the market. They quickly changed their one-size pizza to small, medium, and large pies, keeping the ingredients artisanal and true to Post & Beam’s style.
But it took more than “pizzanomics” to weather those challenging years. John and Roni also went after lesser known pandemic-era government assistance like the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), a payroll tax refund for qualifying small- to medium-sized businesses that kept employees on payroll during the pandemic. This critical move provided Post & Beam support at a crucial juncture.
The duo was working so hard keeping the restaurant afloat — and as much of their staff employed as possible — that they put bigger plans like an employee development fund on hold. Now, they have an opportunity to return to those dreams. Watch the video above to see Blakeney share resources and information with John and Roni.
The strategies John and Roni used aren’t just for pizza. If you are a small- to medium-sized business owner who retained existing employees throughout 2020 and for the first three quarters of 2021, your business might be eligible for a payroll tax refund from the IRS. Eligible businesses can receive a refund of up to $5,000 per employee for all of 2020 and up to $7,000 per employee kept on the payroll for each quarter for Q1 through Q3 of 2021. That’s a total potential refund of up to $26,000 per employee kept on your payroll.
The time to estimate your business’s potential refund is now. Small- to medium-sized business owners can contact an ERC originator like Innovation Refunds* to find out if they might be eligible. It takes around eight minutes to see if your business qualifies for Employee Retention Credit assistance with Innovation Refunds, and the payroll tax refund could provide the money your small business needs to fund your dreams.
*Innovation Refunds does not offer tax or legal advice. We solely provide ERC assistance and recommend seeking advice from our network of highly qualified independent tax or legal professionals regarding your specific situation. Please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions to learn more about eligibility, fees, and other information related to our services.