South Bend popup restaurant benefits from INBiz service

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SOUTH BEND, Ind.— Indiana business portal, INBiz, has helped small businesses with tasks such as registering a business’s name to filing required paperwork since 2016.

One of those businesses, Bantam Diner, believes the service simplified the filing process.

“We just went online and it was a simple step and just go online, go to INBiz and type in your information for your business and what you would like to do, it’s just very straight forward and easy to do and no hassle about it and very user friendly. I think anyone can do it,” said Donte Shaw, owner and chef of Bantam Diner.

Shaw, originally from the East Chicago/ Gary area, started as a line cook 17 years ago.

He never attended culinary school, instead training under chefs he worked with.

In June, Shaw started as a line cook at L Street Kitchen, located at 131 South Lafayette Boulevard in downtown South Bend.

Bantam Diner opened its doors in October as an extended pop up restaurant, using L Street Kitchen’s space during the evening hours.

“One of the concepts was just doing something small, the diner thing, something everyone could afford to basically do home cooked meals,” said Shaw.

The “fine diner” is open during the evenings, from 4:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. while L Street Kitchen serves food during the day.

INBiz provides Indiana business owners with a one-stop place for connecting with government offices, staying up to date on reporting requirements, remaining in compliance with state law.

For example, the Attorney General’s unclaimed property reporting requirement was placed on INBiz in 2018 and to date, has a nearly additional $40 million in revenue

When residents began calling INBiz with questions such as “What business should I form, an LLC or LLP?” which is legal advice the service could not provide, the service decided to adapt itself.

This need lead to INBiz partnering with the Indiana Small Business Development Center (ISBDC) to provide Indiana business owners hoping to launch or grow their business with free advice.

SBDC provides Indiana entrepreneurs with guidance and resources such as strategy development, market research, business planning, export assistance and valuation.

In 2018, Indiana SBDC assisted 310 new businesses start, which led to the creation of 1,240 jobs. They hopes to increase this assistance in 2019.

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