Small-scale manufacturing offers new lens to view economic vitality

Shawn Askinosie, founder and CEO of Askinosie Chocolate LLC, relishes every chance he gets to learn how something works.

“It makes us full human beings, to learn and be curious,” he said.

That’s one reason that 18 years in, the chocolatier still loves giving tours of his 514 E. Commercial St. storefront factory.

“We’ve always had a story to tell, and I’ve always wanted to share it,” Askinosie said. “It seems like people are really interested in coming in. They can take a tour and sample our chocolate right there. That’s really the secret of our continued success: sharing the story.”

Though it’s hardly a newbie, Askinosie Chocolate suddenly finds itself part of a movement – small-scale manufacturing that takes place in urban spaces.

It’s a model that is promoted by author, downtown growth specialist and founder of Recast City LLC Ilana Preuss, who was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Springfield Business Development Corp. on March 13.

During her remarks to the crowd of 440, Preuss defined small-scale manufacturing as any business that creates a tangible good that it can replicate and package, and she noted it’s perfect to fill vacant properties in the downtown and Commercial Street areas. She’s seen the model revitalize downtowns across the country and even wrote the book on it: “Recast Your City: How to Save Your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing.”

“These are the hidden gems in every community,” she said. “I call it artisans to advance manufacturing.”

The Queen City has more than a chocolate factory among its small-scale manufacturing offerings. There are also breweries like Springfield Brewing Co. at 305 S. Market St. and coffee roasters like Mudhouse at 323 South Ave., producing many of the products consumed on-site.

There are businesses like Loomi Candle Bar & Gifts at 400 W. Walnut St., selling premade candles but also allowing customers to create their own. There are also multiple galleries operated by practicing artists who sometimes demonstrate their techniques to customers.

Preuss said small manufacturing operations can create living-wage jobs and build on a city’s existing entrepreneurial energy.

“This is an amazing asset that you guys already have tons of pieces of,” Preuss said.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 75% of manufacturers have fewer than 20 employees, and only 3,813 manufacturing companies in the U.S. employ more than 500. The National Association of Manufacturers reports that for every $1 spent in manufacturing, the total impact to the overall U.S. economy is $2.64.

In the Show Me State, the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center says manufacturing represented 12.4% of the total gross state product in 2022, and nationally it contributed 11% to total gross domestic product. Manufacturing makes up 11.6% of the state’s private sector employment, MERIC reports, and the industry boasts a growth rate of 6.2% over five years – more than double the 2.8% national growth rate in the same period.

Preuss said through encouragement of small-scale manufacturing, Springfield has a chance not just to help entrepreneurs, but to get the word out that the city is a place that fosters entrepreneurship.

“It’s the small businesses in our communities that create that strong fabric,” she said. “And then we can fill these storefronts, create these places that people love to be, and they’re selling in person and online – they’re not dependent on who is right around them to spend money.”

Preuss said the manufacturers have the opportunity to put down deep roots and bring dollars into the community while filling empty spaces and building property values around them.

Ultimately, she said, these small-scale manufacturers may outgrow their storefronts and become established manufacturing facilities based in the city that supported them at their outset.

Maker spaces
One benefit to small-scale manufacturing, according to Preuss, is that it can occupy spaces that are much smaller than what is desired by most businesses.

OfficeRnD, which provides software solutions for flexible and hybrid workspaces, reports that on average, most businesses allocate 100-150 square feet per employee.

The Downtown Springfield Association website has commercial property listings that begin at 750 square feet, with multiple properties clocking in at under 2,000 – roughly enough space for a dozen employees, by OfficeRnD metrics.

But artist and entrepreneur Laura Ingalsbe said art can be created wherever there is space for a chair and an easel.

Ingalsbe is co-owner of both the cooperative gallery Formed: An Artist Collective at 210 E. Walnut St. and its associated Forming Art Studios, roughly across the street at 330 South Ave.

Forming has studio space for artists working in multiple media. It’s open to the public one day per week and for monthly First Friday Artwalk visitors.

She noted that the creative effort isn’t confined to the studio space at Forming. While interviewed at Formed gallery, she said, “I paint all the time when I’m here. Sometimes I love to be interrupted.”

Visitors like seeing artists at work, Ingalsbe said, and that’s true if she’s painting or if she’s doing any of the other things she does, like packaging cards she’s created or ironing decals onto bags.

According to Preuss, businesses engaged in small-scale manufacturing can sell products from their factory space, but they can also sell online or wholesale. As an added bonus, some – like Formed and Forming – provide an amenity by allowing visitors to witness the manufacturing process.

“These businesses fit in your existing business basin downtown, and they can be a business that then grows deep roots and scales and stays in the community and moves into other larger spaces when they need them,” she said. “Because they’re in storefronts, then people have this amazing draw to this area because they want to see it, especially when it’s a consumer-facing shop.”

Preuss said she helps communities around the country set up maker markets, commercial kitchens and more. One nearby example is in Columbia, where she led a project to build a corridor called The Loop north of downtown. That effort created a branding opportunity and a website bearing the slogan, “It’s good to be in The Loop.”

The site explains that the city gathered its basement beer brewers, kitchen coffee roasters, garage furniture makers and more, and with them they brought economic vitality to Columbia’s long-neglected business loop.

“We’re expanding our view of what retail means and finding the hidden economy of diverse creators who may not have a place elsewhere,” the site states. It notes that the city is capitalizing on its DIY spirit to drive economic activity/growth.

Following her remarks, Rusty Worley, executive director of the Downtown Springfield Association, said in an interview that Preuss’s idea builds on things that have already been implemented downtown, and he said the city has multiple economic development tools that could be used for that purpose.

In other words, Springfield could pull off something similar to what Columbia has made work.

“With our culture of entrepreneurship and collaboration, it could really work well,” Worley said.

Spending on experience
Askinosie Chocolate has a retail area fronting its manufacturing space, and Askinosie said there is no wall dividing the retail experience from the manufacturing area.

“We have a story to tell, and we love sharing it,” Askinosie said. “I believe our story is what’s driven this whole thing all these years, with people coming from all over the world to our chocolate factory.”

Askinosie said the small-scale manufacturing trend intersects with a large retail trend.

“What are people increasing their spending on? Simple: experience,” he said. “They’ll spend money on a restaurant experience, a shopping experience, a family experience, a friend experience. I didn’t even know what that meant 18 years ago, but I do now.”

There’s an exotic element to chocolate, which arrives in Springfield as cocoa beans shipped from remote tropical rainforests. But Askinosie says that’s not the reason people love to see the factory in action.

“Sometimes companies sell themselves short by thinking that what they do is not interesting enough for others to be interested,” he said. “When I was a Cub Scout in Springfield at Pershing (Elementary), we went to tour McDonald’s. What we did was watch how French fries were made. I won’t forget that.”

Askinosie said his company uses industrial vats produced by Paul Mueller Co., and he would love to visit the manufacturer just a few miles down the street to see how they are made.

“It’s cool, how something goes from a raw something to a finished something,” he said. “People should give themselves more credit. They think their particular lane is boring to other people, but it’s not.”