The chance of failure for small business is 50 percent after 5 years, according to Small Business Association. However, in Florida, 99.8 percent of businesses are small businesses. People in Orlando are turning passions into businesses and changing the community into one they want to see. A small chunk of Curry Ford, known as the Hourglass District, is home to more than 10 small businesses which have opened since 2017.
Rebecca ‘Bex’ Larsen created and owns Leguminati, a vegan eatery. Larsen started Vegan Orlando a vegan food blog in Orlando in 2014. Soon after Larsen saw the growing popularity of vegan food, he opened Leguminati as a food truck. The food truck became an eatery in Hourglass Social House that opened a year ago, serving a variety of items such as a Sloppy Kirk and LGBT sandwich.
Katie Donzanti the owner and founder of Peaceful Peacock started the Peaceful Peacock in 2017. She wanted to create a safe space for people in Orlando to come and practice yoga. The idea of the Peaceful Peacock started when Donzanti lost a bet to a friend who was a yoga teacher, and had to take yoga for a month.
“It felt like the first time in a really long time that I felt still,” Donzati said.
After that first month of yoga, Donzati felt like something was missing from local yoga studios. Donzati took a risk, with no prior experience in running a yoga business.
Owner Uyen Tran trained as a chef at Disney for five years before opening her own business in April. Le ky Patisserie serves homemade French pastries and banh mi, a traditional Vietnamese sandwich.
Iain Yeakle and Alex K. Tchekmeian have known each other for most of their lives, going to school together. Life after childhood took them in different directions. Iain entered the local craft coffee business, running his own wholesale roasting company. While Tchekmeian started businesses such as Playlist Live and AKT Enterprises Inc. Later the two reconnected through coffee and started Foxtail. Almost three years later, there are 11 locations in the greater metro Orlando area.
Similar to Leguminati, Tamale co also started as a popular food truck in the Orlando area, serving Mexican street food. The most popular item is the Gourmet Tamale, a cornhusk with corn dough known as masa and filled with meat and vegetables. Tamale co opened in May 2019 as part of Hourglass Social House.
The Italian based restaurant, which opened last year, serves oven-baked pizzas along with a variety of pastas and other Italian dishes, which includes vegetarian options. The restaurant features a spacious outdoor seating area.
For many businesses within the Hourglass District, visit their website.