At the Build Fund, we like to keep in contact with our clients and take the time to visit their locations. Recently we had the chance to speak with Andrea Homoya, Founder and CEO of Ash & Elm Cider Co.
Ash & Elm moved into its first permanent home located on the near-eastside of Indianapolis in 2016. Andrea and her husband, Aaron, are passionate about connecting with local orchardists and farmers, both to keep the freshest ingredients in their cider and to support local small businesses.
This cider company strives to make quality ciders using apples from around the Midwest and help cultivate the market for craft cider in Indianapolis.
Take a look at what Andrea had to say.
How has the Build Fund made an impact on your business?
We used our loan from the Build Fund for our most important pieces of equipment: our tanks! Without them, there would be no cider to make. We appreciate the low-interest loan and their continuing partnership.
What inspired you to be an entrepreneur?
My husband has always had a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit in terms of coming up with great business ideas, and I’ve always been comfortable and interested in leadership, sales, and project management. With our skills combined, we realized we had what we needed to make great business partners in addition to being life partners.
Do you have any good news or upcoming events you’d like to share?
We are moving our current tasting room to a larger location half a mile closer to downtown in the spring of 2020. The move is mostly because we’ve run out of space for all of our fans in our current tasting room – a good problem to have!
Thank you to Andrea for sharing her story and for Ash & Elm Cider Company’s contributions to the local small business community.