Cheryl's Southern Style inside PPL Park

When the CCity Blogger last saw Cheryl, it was the first home game at PPL Park where she was set up outside the stadium. (Click HERE to view). Now she's inside the park with the big boys.
I recall earlier this year when PPL folks staged a vendor fair with particular focus on Chester businesses. Several of them came back and told me that all the prime spots were already taken and PPL didn't have any real interest in Chester businesses.
When I brought that point up in a conversation with Jim Turner, Chester's Economic Development director, he confessed that there was a serious disconnect between the Chester vendors and PPL regarding expectations of each other. It seemed the Chester businesses were looking for a process similar to acquiring a booth at the Ramble on the Riverfront and the PPL folks were looking for vendors with solid business plans who could deliver to their crowds of 10,000 people or more each game day.
Mr. Turner was hopeful that the Chester businesses would not become discouraged but rather ramp up their businesses to qualify for inclusion at PPL Park in future years.
I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised, but not shocked, to see Cheryl's Southern Style at PPL Park on opening day representing Chester. She has always taken full advantage of the small business development resources in Chester to grow her business (Chester Microenterprise, Widener's Small Business Development Center, and the Chester Economic Development Authority).
If the folks at PPL park say that they like your ribs but you have to come with 1000 pounds of ribs for every game, you can't complain that they are not working with you. If that's too tall of an order for your company, either find a way to grow or continue to live off a couple dozen sales per day. Hooray for Cheryl...she chose to grow.

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