April 26, 2023
FEATURE
Apple empowers small companies to develop and serve their prospects
The founders of Children of Immigrants, Señor Sisig, and Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo share how they’ve harnessed the Apple ecosystem to develop their firms over time
From the inception of an ingenious enterprise concept by way of the planning phases, grand opening, and subsequent development and growth, small enterprise entrepreneurs are harnessing the facility of Apple {hardware}, software program, and companies every single day to handle their operations and join instantly with prospects.
In Los Angeles, streetwear model Children of Immigrants makes use of iPad and Apple Pencil to carry its colourful items to life, and Mac to carry them to the world. Within the San Francisco Bay Space, Señor Sisig, initially a small meals truck enterprise powered by iPad, has expanded into a neighborhood Filipino avenue meals phenom utilizing Apple Enterprise Necessities and a fleet of Apple units. And within the Philadelphia suburbs, Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo makes use of Faucet to Pay on iPhone to hurry up its checkout course of and hold prospects blissful, and Apple Enterprise Join to handle its presence throughout the Apple ecosystem.
Beneath, be taught extra concerning the spark that led the founders of every enterprise down the trail to entrepreneurship, the Apple services and products they’ve used to increase their operations, and the milestones which have formed them into the thriving small companies they’re at present.
Vibrant Designs Spring to Life with iPad and Apple Pencil
Dwelling in Pico-Union within the coronary heart of Los Angeles turned out to be the impetus Daniel Buezo and Weleh Dennis wanted to carry Children of Immigrants to life. The pair had been ruminating for a number of years on a inventive undertaking that might honor immigrant households’ roots — Dennis’s mother and father hail from Liberia, whereas Buezo’s are from Honduras — and so they discovered no scarcity of inspiration within the vibrant, bustling neighborhood, a historic nexus for town’s immigrant communities.
“We needed to inform our story,” Buezo explains of the streetwear model they formally launched in 2015. “Rising up and being into type, vogue, and streetwear, we felt underrepresented and didn’t really feel totally seen. With Children of Immigrants, illustration and empowerment are our values. We’re going deeper into who we’re and paying homage to our mother and father for all they did for us.”
Armed at first with simply an iPhone and a good friend’s MacBook Professional, Buezo and Dennis started Children of Immigrants by transforming and upcycling classic items sourced from native thrift shops, and tapping their mates to function the fledgling model’s fashions, administrators, and photographers. And from there, utilizing Apple Pencil and iPad (tenth technology), they designed and launched the road of colourful items with community-driven messaging they’re now recognized for.
“My actual unlock was having the ability to take inspiration from my environment and draw or animate them with the iPad in Adobe,” says Dennis. “It offers a sure ease and stream to the inventive course of — it’s a sport changer.”
As the corporate expands, its day-to-day operations are powered by Mac mini with Studio Show and MacBook Professional.
“Mac mini and Studio Show serve us phenomenally in two separate areas of our enterprise: product and design, and logistics and success,” says Christian Grey, the corporate’s director of operations. “Due to the expertise and enhancements Apple is persistently making by way of understanding its customers, we’re continuously discovering cool shortcuts that assist us be extra environment friendly and dial the whole lot in.”
A Cell Enterprise Takes Root with Apple Enterprise Necessities
With their fleet of 4 meals vans and three brick-and-mortar eating places throughout the San Francisco Bay Space, Evan Kidera and Gil Payumo are on a quest: bringing sisig — a tangy avenue meals staple within the Philippines manufactured from minced pork — to the lots within the type of burritos, tacos, nachos, and fries.
The pair launched their enterprise, Señor Sisig, out of a single truck in 2010. “On the time, we actually felt that sisig might be the long-lasting dish of the Philippines that spreads around the globe,” Kidera says. “However we needed to begin off placing it in one thing individuals would really feel snug with and never intimidated by. The hope is that sisig is rather like the California roll or the burrito, the place it cracks the seal for the whole lot.”
The lots got here forth and devoured, and the enterprise grew from there. “Being a meals truck was fairly arduous once we began out,” Kidera explains. “There wasn’t a lot on the market to help cellular companies, other than iPhone. After which the unique iPad got here proper after that. I feel iPad was actually the factor that allowed us to develop as a cellular enterprise; the timing of it was simply nice, as a result of we have been capable of take funds on the go with out having to rely solely on money.”
Señor Sisig’s workers use Apple units to maintain observe of stock, monitor gross sales, and talk between shops, and just lately adopted Apple Enterprise Necessities to resolve its rising IT wants. Launched final 12 months, the service seamlessly brings collectively gadget administration, 24/7 Apple Assist, and iCloud storage into one subscription for small companies.
“We’ve been fortunate sufficient to have some actually good relationships with Apple enterprise companions at totally different shops over time,” Kidera says. “It feels extra like a partnership than us simply going right into a retailer. We have now a direct particular person we will speak concerning the new expertise with because it comes out. To have someone we will go to and speak about firsthand expertise with is vital, and in addition to have someone who’s going to inform us about issues we’re not seeing.”
The group can also be utilizing Apple Enterprise Join — a free device that permits companies of all sizes to customise the way in which their data seems throughout Apple apps — to maintain prospects up-to-date on its varied areas.
“The purpose is to make sure that individuals know they will use our place playing cards in Apple Maps not solely as a method to get to our enterprise by way of navigation, but additionally to order their meals and full their cost proper from the Maps app,” says Kidera — essential as the corporate eyes additional growth exterior of the Bay Space, California, and even the nation.
Clients Come First with Faucet to Pay on iPhone
On a typical weekend afternoon, the large 3,500-square-foot storefront that Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo now calls house reverberates with power and heat as prospects peruse the shop’s aisles in quest of the right search for their large day.
However the enterprise started far more modestly again in 2013, when married couple Franco Salerno and Wendy Ianieri-Salerno hatched a plan on the again of a serviette on the way in which house from a marriage in Mexico. On the time, native choices for formalwear have been restricted of their hometown, a suburb north of Philadelphia.
“Three months later, we opened our retailer with bridal robes, tuxedos, fits, promenade attire, and bridesmaids’ attire,” Salerno says. Inside six months, the pair have been doing a lot enterprise they’d outgrown their authentic storefront. They expanded their employees, which now consists of daughters Daria and Deanna, and centered on offering the type of bespoke service that has saved prospects coming again for all their formalwear wants.
Having the best expertise in place was key as operations expanded. Worker scheduling requests at the moment are despatched and accredited utilizing the Sq. Payroll app on iPhone, and the group makes use of the LiveHelpNow app for iPhone and Mac to speak instantly with prospects who textual content the shop’s landline. Salerno recurrently logs into Apple Enterprise Connect with replace Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo’s place card with contemporary photographs, and makes use of the Showcase characteristic in Enterprise Join to advertise upcoming occasions.
iPad with Sq. initially served as the shop’s main money register, and at present, to make the checkout course of even faster, workers can use Faucet to Pay on iPhone with the Sq. Level of Sale app to finish gross sales from anyplace within the retailer utilizing solely an iPhone, with no further {hardware}. This newfound flexibility is very important from mid-March by way of Thanksgiving, in any other case often called peak marriage ceremony season.
“Throughout our busiest months, the shop can get so crowded that there are sometimes strains of individuals ready to be served or to pay,” Salerno explains. “Prior to now, prospects would get pissed off by the wait; some would even go away. Now with Faucet to Pay on iPhone, we will stroll across the retailer and examine prospects out, assuaging the likelihood of somebody leaving earlier than we will serve them.”
That’s a win for the shopper, and a win for Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo. For entrepreneurs like Salerno, the Apple ecosystem has the facility to assist hold a small enterprise up and operating for years to come back.
To rejoice Nationwide Small Enterprise Week (April 30 to Could 6), choose Apple Retailer areas in New York Metropolis, Washington, D.C., and Chicago will host At the moment at Apple classes titled “Develop Your Enterprise With Apple.” These free classes provide small companies experience on how you can make it simple to customise their presence throughout Apple apps with Apple Enterprise Join, settle for funds with Faucet to Pay on iPhone, and get help and handle units with Apple Enterprise Necessities. Companies may also join for a digital session scheduled for June 14. To be taught extra about Apple’s small enterprise instruments, go to apple.com/enterprise/small-business.
Press Contacts
Jessica Reeves
Apple
Julia Schechter
Apple
Alyssa Hayes
Apple
