Cullen Thompson started Georgia’s Food on the Go two years ago in northeast Lake County, cooking and selling Creole-Cajun-Asian fusion dishes from a food truck based on recipes he learned as a boy in his mother’s kitchen. Her name is Georgia.
Learning about the Lake County Community Foundation’s Small Business Growth Initiative, Thompson joined its 2026 fourth cohort in May in an effort to sharpen his business skills with a coach and earn a $25,000 grant to further develop his business.
Collaborating with both his mentor and the 16 other small business owners in the group, Thompson took a big step. Along with the food truck, he opened Georgia’s on Aug. 5, a sit-down restaurant on Sheridan Road in Zion.
“I was able to talk to different people in the program and get a lot of ideas about how to run a business,” Thompson said. “I learned how to overcome obstacles and how to be successful. We share ideas with each other.”
Thompson is one of 17 participants in the Lake County Community Foundation’s Small Business Growth Initiative from May 18 through Sept. 21, educating entrepreneurs with businesses in Waukegan, North Chicago and Zion.
Courtney Combs, the Lake County Community Foundation’s director of strategy and community impact, said the program is operated in partnership with the Chicago-based Allies for Community Business.
Now a brick-and-mortar restaurant owner as well as a food truck operator, Cullen Thompson is developing skills through the Lake County Community Foundation’s Small Business Growth Initiative. (Steve Sadin/For the Lake County News-Sun)
“We want to help small businesses, especially in communities historically disinvested,” Combs said. “We want to get them to a place where they have access to capital and can help the community.”
Combs said the idea first surfaced in 2019, but the coronavirus pandemic slowed the effort. In 2022, the first grant was issued to Waukegan’s Drip and Culture Coffee. The effort focused on Waukegan-based small businesses. There were four participants in 2023, and eight in 2024.
Branching into North Chicago in 2025, the number of small business owners involved grew to 16. Combs said Zion entrepreneurs were added this year. The company goes through an application process and is selected.
“Zion is similar to Waukegan and North Chicago,” Combs said. “Everyone has good ideas, talent and skill. They are part of the small business ecosystem. We teach them how to get access to capital so they can help the local economy. They get a business coach to help them.”
Swiss Mountain Coffee owner Russell Meurer oversees coffee roasting in his Zion factory. He is a participant in the Lake County Community Foundation’s Small Business Growth Initiative. (Steve Sadin/For the Lake County News-Sun)
Meeting four times together as a group, Combs said each business is assigned a coach to mentor it. There are 11 assignments they must complete before they receive their $25,000 grant. They learn financial forecasting, develop a marketing plan, and even use artificial intelligence.
“They talk through their things with their coach and each other,” Combs said. “Sometimes growth is just strengthening your business.”
Thompson, a Waukegan native and now a North Chicago resident, said he started his business career in the corporate world, rising to upper management before starting his own band-promotion business in 2018. He moved from that enterprise into Georgia’s.
Russell Meurer and his wife, Deborah, spent 20 years as chefs before they decided to go into business for themselves. They purchased Swiss Mountain Coffee, a wholesaler that roasts and ships coffee around the country, in 2022 and moved it to Zion.
Cullen Thompson, a participant in the Lake County Community Foundation’s Small Business Growth Initiative, stands beside his food truck. (Steve Sadin/For the Lake County News-Sun)
Learning about the Small Business Growth Initiative from Zion Township Supervisor Cheri Neal, Russell Meurer said he decided to apply. A Gurnee resident who had his last chef job in Lake Zurich, he thought the program might be a big help.
“We were new in town and did not know a lot of people in the local business community,” Meurer said. “It seemed like a good idea. We learn a lot from each other. I’m learning a lot about entrepreneurship.”
He makes both his own brand and private labels for restaurants and other retailers in Oklahoma, Utah and Michigan, as well as locally in Zion, Lake Zurich, Waukegan, Mundelein and Lake Villa. Transitioning from an employee to an owner was an adjustment.
Swiss Mountain’s freshly roasted coffee — nothing is more than two weeks old — is shipped in bags to customers. Meurer said he also sells pods for Keurig coffeemakers in partnership with Shining Abilities in Lake Villa. Youngsters with disabilities make them.
“The kids get an occupational training day,” Meurer said. “It helps them transition into jobs.”
Brothers Juan and Xavier Limon are two of the younger participants in the Small Business Growth Initiative. Waukegan natives, they own Envy Streetwear on Genesee Street in downtown Waukegan.
Xavier Limon said they sell gently used clothing from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, as well as some newer items not worn before. They acquire their inventory from a variety of sources.
“Most of our clothes are vintage,” Xavier Limon said.
Juan Limon said the idea came to him when he was a student at Cristo Rey St. Martin High School in Waukegan. He found vintage clothing he liked, but was not his size. He found a market among his friends and schoolmates.
“If it was not my size, I could buy it for $5 and sell it for $20,” Juan Limon said.
After four years at Northern Illinois University studying business, Juan Limon said he spent two years in Mexico, where he worked in a store learning the retail business. Returning home in 2020 — Xavier Limon remained in Waukegan — they started their business in their mother’s basement.
“We went on the road selling (vintage clothes) using our mom’s house as our warehouse,” Juan Limon said. “When we saved $10,000, we opened our store in 2022.”
Starting in a different Waukegan location, Juan Limon said they moved the store to Genesee Street on July 3. With double the space, they can also hold community events at the shop.