Business Mentor NY – a program of Empire State Development

Program Update

Mentees and Mentors,

We appreciate your interest in mentorship. Please be advised that after March 31, 2024, the Business Mentor NY Program will cease to operate. However, you can continue to access mentoring services by contacting Entrepreneurship Assistance Centers in your area at esd.ny.gov/eac-directory to obtain one-on-one counseling with your current business idea or small business.

If you would like to continue offering pro bono mentoring services to entrepreneurs or small business owners, please email us at nylovessmbiz@esd.ny.gov with your core business skills, experience or education and your preferred service area.

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  BMNY

Claude Malone Entrepreneur

Location New York, New York, United States of America
Venture Industry Restaurant/Cafe/Bar/Catering
Languages spoken
  • English
Recent Activity

What I need help with

My background as an entrepreneur

My current challenges

Our largest areas of opportunity is pricing and customer acquisition. We've done research on how to price our catering, but the prices vary from high end catering to low budget and we're still figuring out where do we fall within that spectrum as a company. Our goal is to provide our customers a great perceived value, without short changing ourselves for our efforts and great food.

We've used bidding-based apps to acquire new clients, but we are searching for a more stable and effective way to gain new clients.


About my venture

CORNBREAD26 Started 2017

We are CORNBREAD26, a full service catering company. We are based in Queens, New York, and proudly service NYC, Long Island, and New Jersey. The business was started by myself (Claude Malone), and my partner Craig Baker. We have been a loving relationship for over two years. The business started organically, after many requests from friends and family for some of the delicious dishes we regularly prepare. Although the market is saturated with restaurants and catering companies, we saw a strong need for personalized service in the catering sector. Far too often, we've experienced caterers with bland to zero personality. Or worst, they deliver your catering in a manner which is unfriendly and cold. With my background in service, and Craig's background as a cook, we've parlayed that into a business. To date, we've catered engagement celebrations, showers, corporate lunches, private dinners, wedding receptions, and cocktail hours, to name a few.

Countries of operation: United States of America