A recycled shipping container might not be the first place you’d think to look for a high-quality, French-style pastry. But in the hip South Lamar neighborhood of Austin, Texas, that’s exactly where you’d find it. 

Before starting La Boite Café, owner Dan Berezcki recounts, he and his partner, Victoria Davies, “had nice, well-paying jobs that were interesting and fulfilling, but had both reached a plateau.” 

In 2009, the couple made the decision to open their own business after noticing an unfilled niche in the Austin market – what Davies describes as “the lack of really good croissant.”

With previous restaurant industry experience and the savings to start up, Berezcki and Davies began to seek out locations for their café. 

When they were unable to find a traditional fixed location in any of their desired neighborhoods, they got inspired by their interest in modern design.

Berezcki and Davies had been aware of innovative construction projects being done with recycled shipping containers. Using shipping container architecture for the counter area allowed them to create an outdoor café atmosphere that was truly experience-oriented. 

This setup also fits with their commitment to running an environmentally conscious business.

In addition to housing the business in the recycled container, Berezcki and Davies strive to purchase used equipment and local ingredients whenever possible. 

La Boite Café is just one example of the vitality of the unconventional businesses in Austin. The city, which has adopted the philosophy, “keep Austin weird,” is a place where innovation and creativity are encouraged. 

While this trend may have started with a history of hippy culture and the city’s development as a stronghold for musicians and artists, the business community has gotten the message, as well. 

In this environment where small businesses flourish (Austin has twice the start-up rate of the country as a whole), entrepreneurs abound in areas as perse as software development and digital media, organic farming and clothing to more than 5,800 local restaurants and mobile food vendors. 

In May 2011, Austin was ranked fourth in economic strength by POLICOM Corp. And Austin was ranked No. 1 in “small business vitality” for the second year in a row in a survey by the American City Business Journals.

The creativity of area entrepreneurs is echoed and supported by inventive programs from local government and nonprofit organizations. Leading the charge to expand services and develop new ways to address the needs of small businesses is the City of Austin Small Business Development Program (SBDP), one of only a few completely city-funded programs of its kind. 

SBDP has created award-winning events such as the annual Meet the LenderSM business loan fair, where area entrepreneurs can meet face-to-face with dozens of local lenders in one place at one time. 

The program was also recently recognized on the national level for pursuing creative and broad-based marketing strategies to reach out to Austin’s 36,000-plus small business owners. 

In general, the program is perpetually looking for unique opportunities to collaborate with other city departments, nonprofit organizations, local universities and the business community. 

This kind of collaborative support enables businesses like La Boite Café to thrive. In the early stages of the business, Berezcki and Davies attended a two-day business plan writing workshop, part of SBDP’s BizAid© technical assistance program. 

They also worked with SBDP staff to ensure they were in line with mobile food vending regulations. 

When it came time to open, they attended the annual Meet the LenderSM business loan fair, which led them to a small business loan that supplemented their capital and boosted their credit. 

Less than a year later, Berezcki and Davies found their pastries were selling like hotcakes and began thinking about expansion. Once again, they turned to SBDP for advice – attending a panel discussion on the ups and downs of opening a second location and meeting with a no-cost one-on-one with a business coach to go over their plan.

Citing SBDP’s programs, as well as Austin’s stable growth and its penchant for innovation, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine recently named Austin the No. 1 City for the Next Decade. In tough times, Kiplinger’s predicted cities like Austin that encourage business to be nimble and dynamic are expected to grow, finding new opportunities in a changing economy.

It seems that when it comes to the economy, keeping Austin weird is keeping Austin afloat in tough financial times. Austin has experienced more than twice the national rate of small business growth in recent years. Small businesses have been historically crucial in job growth during economic recoveries. 

Fittingly, the city also saw more than 15 percent employment growth between 2004 and 2009, a period that saw job losses for the United States as a whole. 

With the city continuing to weather the recession impressively, weird is looking pretty sensible.

For more information, please visit www.austinsmallbiz.org, or call 512-974-7800.