Power Up Industry Best Practices Series

Store Owners Series

Power Up Industry Best Practices Series

Welcome to the Power Up Your Business Industry Best Practices Series.

These courses target the unique needs of specific industries to strengthen resiliency and foster growth. Industry experts will lead a deep dive into topics such as regulations, laws and customer bases, as well as differentiating essentials of broader topics.

Each series, offered to small businesses for free, are comprised of 2-hour workshops designed to help you establish improving industry-specific best practices.

These series will support businesses in the restaurant, child care and hair industries, as well as others.


Restaurant Best Practices Series

Whether you’re planning to open a restaurant or simply want your restaurant to be more profitable, this is a series you won’t want to miss. We’ll take you through all the critical aspects of planning and operating a restaurant. In this series, you’ll skip the learning curve and beat the odds on your way to a successful, profitable business. Students will be selected by a team of professionals.

This series will be offered virtually through Zoom from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Topics will cover:

  • Foundation | January 23, 2024
    All successful businesses start with a strong foundation. Explore the critical elements to consider before embarking on your new business or expanding your existing business.
  • Location and Financing | January 30, 2024
    In this workshop, we’ll explore concept and location, start-up costs, and financing your new restaurant or new profit center.
  • Management and Operations | February 6, 2024
    This workshop covers staffing, operational tools for front and back of house, vendors, and maintenance tools that are critical in managing costs and improving quality of life.
  • Menu Engineering and Four Walls Marketing | February 13, 2024
    Learn how to use your menu and venue as your #1 marketing tool to maximize profits.
  • Technology and Digital Marketing | February 20, 2024
    Understand the critical role of technology in engaging customers and maximizing sales. A social media marketing expert will join the discussion to answer your questions.
  • Metrics and Profitability | February 27, 2024
    You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Learn about the key restaurant industry benchmarks and how to maximize profitability.

Register in advance for this series

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.


E-commerce Foundation Series

E-commerce Foundations Series covers digital strategic planning that highlights tools, software, resources, engagement with customers through various digital channels, attracting new customers, cultivating customer loyalty initiatives, and advancement of digital goals.

This series will be offered in person at the Center for Business and Industry on Community College of Philadelphia's Main Campus, 1751 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130. Classes will be held from 3 to 5 p.m.

  • E-commerce Foundations I, Feb. 26, 2024
    In this first essential course, you’ll learn how to assess the market, understand the competition, find the right platform, and evaluate capability in design and technology to be able to scale your business. This session will explore what is necessary to connect with your audience in a digital shopping environment and guide consumer behavior.
  • E-commerce Foundations II, Feb. 27, 2024
    Learn what is required to manage the e-commerce experience. This session will focus on the site map, the anatomy of your website, and user experience in the digital shopping environment and provide tools to manage time and workloads for these tasks.
  • E-commerce Foundations III, Feb. 28, 2024
    Cover e-commerce marketing and SEO strategies. This session will focus on how to expand your business by focusing on optimization.
  • E-commerce Foundations IV, Feb. 29, 2024
    In this last session, evaluate the future of e-commerce and retail challenges to face. This introduces enhanced and emerging technology, like voice commerce, augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI). Participants will be given the opportunity to present their e-commerce sites for critique.

Register in advance for this series

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.


Marketing Strategies Series

This Industry Best Practice Series is in-person at the Center for Business and Industry 1751 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, PA

If you haven’t already started planning your marketing strategies for the holiday season, now is the time to start. This series will focus on social media strategies and how to leverage content for sales.

  • Marketing Strategies Part I
    In this first course, you’ll learn how to find your customers on social channels. This session will explore what is social and understanding how to grow social strategies using proven methodologies.
  • Marketing Strategies Part II
    The second session will focus on creating SMART goals, identifying KPI’s, and understand the journey of the customer to maximize how students behave on each platform.
  • Marketing Strategies Part III
    In the third session, you will develop a brand personality, tone, and voice for social platforms, as well as establishing a content calendar to ensure that you are able to meet your goals and performance metrics.
  • Marketing Strategies Part IV
    The last session will focus on content development, exploring social media marketing like ads and influencers, and understanding how to turn engagement into return on investment.

New classes starting later in 2024


Manufacturing Best Practices Series: “Level up” Manufacturing

Operating a small manufacturing business can present big challenges. Issues related to leadership, strategy, culture, growth, and operations can trigger debilitating setbacks. Until now, few resources have been available to instruct and guide makers and micro manufacturers on their journey towards growth and sustained prosperity. This new program designed for manufacturing firms with fewer than 10 employees is what every Philadelphia-based maker or micro manufacturer needs to evolve and take their business to a new form.

In this hybrid course, small teams from noncompeting manufacturers meet weekly to adopt a Plan, Do Check and Act (PDCA) approach towards business management, operations, and growth. It provides a highly interactive experience with subject matter expert-led lessons and corresponding manufacturing-based case studies. Further, it features ideation exercises and tools that enable participants to design and implement a vision and growth strategy as unique as their business.

This course is being offered in partnership with The Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center (DVIRC), and is the result of DVIRC’s lessons learned from over 100,000 hours spent helping makers and micro manufacturers thrive.

This series will cover:

  • Leadership Essentials for Leveling Up
  • Business Strategy, Scaling Up & Defining Your “Way Forward”
  • Marketing & Sales 101: The Basics for Growth
  • PDCA - Plan, Do, Check and Act Performance Management
  • Visual Controls and Other Easy Ways to Measure Your Results
  • Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Registration for this cohort has ended. New sections will be offered in the future.

"We already had a connection with Community College of Philadelphia from completing the Power Up Your Business program, which was an amazing resource. Upon completion of the course, we received a manufacturing email featuring “Level Up.” At first we thought that our business being handmade was different from manufacturing tools, but the basic tenants like cost of goods are similar. We understand that we still have much to learn when it comes to scaling our business and the world of manufacturing. We need to learn more and build accordingly. " - TWEE


Retail Ready Bootcamp Series

Don't miss this bootcamp for emerging businesses who are considering leasing commercial space as their next growth opportunity.

Brought to you by Power Up Your Business and Lancaster Avenue 21st Century Business Association (LA21), the bootcamp will include:

  • Business structure, budgeting and planning
  • Storefront improvements
  • Finance—capital and credit
  • Legal, insurance and HR
  • Understanding taxes
  • Commercial leases—leasing vs. buying

The series provides a solid foundation for businesses at various stages of their development such as:

  • Existing storefronts with a reliance on walk-in business
  • Digital-first operators considering a brick-and-mortar location
  • Kitchen table startups ready to grow

Workshops will be held once a week for 12 weeks via 3-hour live evening classes that begin at 6 p.m. Classes start every Thursday.

Qualifications

To qualify, businesses:
  • Must be operational for at least 1 year
  • Demonstrate some effort in retail expansion

Applicants will be chosen by a panel. In Partnership with LA21.

Important Dates for Retail Ready Bootcamp Series

TBD: Application deadline
TBD: First class begins

Registration for this cohort has ended. New sections will be offered in the future.


For more information, email powerup@ccp.edu.