Small businesses find Northwest Indiana inviting location to build success
From beginners to those expanding, small business owners in Northwest Indiana will find a welcoming environment.
Indiana is ranked No. 2 in the nation as the best place to start a business, according to a Forbes’ 2024 list. The Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistics reported than 25.6 million Americans started their own businesses during the past five years — more than 2,500 of them just in the Region.
Ashlee Greenfield is one of them. She is turning traumatic childhood experiences into her first business. When she was a child, she almost drowned twice.
“I want to be able to save as many lives as I possibly can, and to prevent those experiences that I had,” the 39-year-old Chicago resident said.
In March, Greenfield and her husband, David, opened the British Swim School of North Lake County in Munster. With more than 300 locations throughout the United States and Canada, it’s the school’s first location in Northwest Indiana.
Ashlee and David represent the more than half-a-million small businesses in Indiana, accounting for more than 1.2 million Hoosier jobs, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
Legislators in the state of Indiana plan to do even more to assist small businesses. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun wants to create a state office specifically to provide resources to small businesses. Indiana state Rep. Jake Teshka introduced House Bill 1172 to create the office of entrepreneurship and innovation.
The new office would be tasked with developing and administering programs to support small business, entrepreneurship and innovation in the state, according to the bill, which was referred to the commerce and technology committee Feb. 20.
Forbes reported in October that Indiana already is “a highly favorable state for starting a business.”
The $100 fee to form an LLC is one of the lowest in the country.
“The state also maintains a solid business survival rate of 77%, reflecting a stable and nurturing environment for business growth,” the business publication reported. “Additionally, the average funding available for a small business in Indiana is notable, standing at $24,502, which signifies a supportive financial environment for entrepreneurs.”
Greenfield is counting on those numbers to help her swim school succeed.
“While Chicago is already saturated with businesses, Munster is a growing community and a great place to live,” she said. “We saw a need for more local swim lesson options so families wouldn’t have to travel to Chicago or too far from their neighborhoods.”
British Swim School
When Greenfield was searching for what type of business to open, she kept thinking about her experiences as a child. She almost drowned on two separate occasions, when she was 3 and 9 years old.
Unlike other swim programs in the Region, Greenfield says British Swim School goes beyond teaching the basics of swimming.
“We really focus on water survival and not just stroke development or just your basic swim lessons,” Greenfield said. “We want to make sure that the students have the basic survival in case of a water emergency.”
British Swim School has an aquatics manager along with instructors. Initially, the school will be geared toward children but will expand to adults.
“The British homeschool model actually is designed to train people as young as 3 months old, all the way throughout old age,” Greenfield said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s just children, babies or adults at any age. People will be able to come here and learn those skills.”
Learning those skills is vitally important to Greenfield. She enrolled her own 2-year-old daughter to take swim lessons at a British Swim School center in downtown Chicago.
“When I had my daughter (Kauai) in 2022, I said, ‘You know what, she’s going to have to learn how to swim. She’s gonna have to learn how to survive at the very least,’” Greenfield said. “I love the program and that’s pretty much how we ended up with British Swim School. I really believe in this program.”
Greenfield said the school also will allow older adults to learn a skill, like swimming, that they never had before.
“Some of these adults I run into are all very similar,” Greenfield said. “They all have trauma from swimming. If I can overcome my trauma, I want to help other people overcome it too.”
Classes for children and adults take place at the Hyatt Place Hotel in Munster.
La Loteria
Joel and Maria Huerta of Valparaiso are starting their second restaurant. Their first was a taqueria, Spanish for small taco stand, in Chesterton in 2020 during the pandemic.
They got help from Maria’s brother, David, who owns other Mexican restaurants in the Region. But late last year, the 35-year-old Maria said she was offered an opportunity to take over an established Mexican restaurant in Merrillville.
The couple made some cosmetic changes inside and also changed the name to La Loteria, off the busy highway intersection of U.S. 30 and Interstate 65.
La Loteria is named after an extremely popular card game in Mexico, which is similar to bingo.
“My husband really liked the name. La Loteria is a big name, because everybody knows La Loteria,” said Maria, a native of Puebla, Mexico.
“When this business was offered to me, to me it was like hitting the lottery. So that’s why I called it La Loteria,” Joel said in his native Spanish.
La Loteria doesn’t have a typical Mexican feel to it. Yes, there are some neon signs and Mayan artwork, but it has an upscale downtown Chicago feel to it and could pass for a sushi or Korean barbecue restaurant.
La Loteria opened in early February.
With an explosion of Mexican restaurants in Northwest Indiana, including in Merrillville, what sets La Loteria apart, Maria said, is the consistent quality of the food.
“We make everything here fresh. The guys are still doing hand trimming for the steak tacos. Like I said, consistency … is important to us,” said Maria, a mother of four children. “All the Mexican restaurants around are all good. They’re all unique. We just have to keep up with the quality, freshness and consistency.”
Even before opening their first restaurant, Maria worked in the food service industry for more than a decade. Maria worked at Burger King in Valparaiso where she learned from the store’s manager, Larry Harding.
“No matter how hard or horrible his day was, he always has a smile for his customers,” Maria said. “I love that. I think that’s one of the things I learned from him.”
Joel, 35, said he wants the restaurant to be different from others because of the quality and service.
“I want to bring high quality and service to the Merrillville area,” he said. “We will have everything fresh and cooked right then and there.”
Tiny’s Coffee Bar
Tiny’s Coffee Bar in the Miller Beach area of Gary was one of the more highly anticipated openings in the Region. It opened in November 2023 in the spot once occupied by the legendary restaurant Miller Bakery Cafe.
The new name is deliberately deceiving. Although the specialty coffees and homemade pastries are on par or superior to anything the national chains have to offer, it’s also home to some of the best cocktails you will find in Northwest Indiana or Chicago.
Matthew Blackwell, 36, is a part owner of the restaurant with his parents, Rex and Peggy Blackwell.
He has nearly 20 years in the hospital industry, splitting his time between Gary and Flint, Michigan, where his father used to run automobile plants for GM.
In that time, Matthew has worked at posh establishments in Chicago like Copper Fox on the Magnificent Mile, The State restaurant in Lincoln Park and The Trophy Room.
He also has worked in film production and has an appreciation for Gary’s natural areas, having worked as a park ranger at the Indiana Dunes National Park when he was younger.
With all his talents, the graduate of Columbia College in Chicago said opening his first restaurant in Gary was an easy choice.
“I figured if you could do it here, we could do it anywhere,” Matthew said. “If we can make a profit and help reinvest and rebuild the community that would be enough for me.”
Tiny’s Coffee Bar is named after Matthew’s grandfather, “Tiny” Herman Blackwell, who, at 6 feet 5 inches tall and 300 pounds, was anything but tiny.
Tiny Blackwell was run out of Tennessee by a local sheriff who wanted a part of his profits from moonshine. Tiny Blackwell made his way to Chicago to support his nine children.
Matthew describes his coffee bar as front, just like his grandfather’s nickname.
“We honor him in his efforts. So tiny is kind of actually a front for a full cocktail experience,” Matthew said.
On weekends, Tiny’s features music, dancing and a warming inviting vibe that can only be found in downtown Chicago.
During weeknights, you might find a local sewing or book club taking up residence in the bar’s comfy meeting space.
“We have a lot of growing pains, but I will tell you that we have a lot of support,” Matthew said.
Matthew takes great pains in everything he serves, from a full menu to his specialty drinks and coffee.
“In our martinis, you’re getting fresh juice. Even the coffee, we have our own roaster,” he said. “Our smoked salmon is fantastic.
“Everybody thinks it’s fun to run a restaurant. I get here at 7 a.m. and I leave about 1:30 in the morning,” Blackwell said.
Matthew is also working on getting the bar’s K-cups to market so people can enjoy their rich, full-flavored coffee at home.
Assistance needed
Business owners like Greenfield, Huerta and Blackwell might act fearlessly, but along the way to success, they often need help from others.
While Chicago is already saturated with businesses, Munster is a growing community and a great place to live.”
That’s where business organizations can lend a hand.
“The bulk of our membership are businesses with one to five employees, so basically small businesses and nonprofits,” said Lance Ryskamp, president and CEO of the Highland Griffith Chamber of Commerce. “I’ve leaned on our chamber to help them succeed.”
When Ryskamp became the head of the chamber in July 2022, he wanted to improve the chamber’s professional growth component. He added committees for education, next generation leaders, and women in business to provide business owners with resources to learn things that perhaps they are not proficient in.
“(The women in business committee) has been super busy and very successful. We try to provide a kind of professional development aspect to it,” Ryskamp said.
Ryskamp said all businesses, but especially new ones, need a place they can go to learn new skills or aspects to stay successful. And chambers of commerce are the place that should be able to provide that.
“You need a support system that can help you navigate that because you may have the greatest recipe for tamales, but if you don’t know how to do accounting or have a system where you can manage your money, chances are you are not going to last that long,” Ryskamp said. “Everybody kind of needs somebody to be that support system for them.
Other organizations like Lower Lincoln in Valparaiso offer events and co-working spaces to facilitate connections. The nonprofit hosted a pitch swarm in February that wrapped up a cohort of entrepreneurs who spent five weeks refining their business pitches.
“It’s a special thing — success is never built alone,” said Wade Breitzke, CEO of WeCreate Media and founder of Lower Lincoln. “Businesses grow when driven, passionate people come together, challenge each other, and strengthen their ideas in a community that pushes them to think bigger, take bolder action, and believe so deeply in their vision that it becomes unstoppable momentum.”
Nationally, the U.S. Small Business Administration has celebrated National Small Business Week since 1963 to highlight the accomplishments of the nation’s more than 34 million small businesses. This year, events are scheduled for May 4 through 10.
“We’ve learned that newer small businesses account for nearly all net-new jobs in Indiana,” said Lorri Feldt, regional director of the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center. “Small businesses are over 98% of all businesses in our state, and Small Business Week is a fitting way to recognize and celebrate the importance and impact of these businesses, young and old.”
A new study by Simplify named Indiana the No. 12 least expensive state to start a business in 2025. It cited low commercial rents, fewer regulations and low labor costs.
Small businesses also trend here because the cost of living in Indiana is lower than the national average.
“The demographic makeup of the state further adds to its attractiveness, with 64% of its population in the working-age bracket, indicating a substantial labor pool,” according to Forbes.
“All these factors contribute to Indiana’s impressive scaled score of 98 out of 100, making it an excellent choice for business ventures.” •
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