(upbeat music) - Welcome to Business Forward.

I'm your host, Matt George.

Joining me tonight, Katie Kim.

Katie is the CEO of the Kim Group.

Welcome, Katie.

- [Katie] Well thank you, Matt.

- [Matt] Well, we're glad you're here.

Let's get right down to it.

Let's talk about you and Central Illinois.

Are you from here?

- Yes, born and raised.

- [Matt] Born and raised where: Peoria or?

- It's actually a little town, Kickapoo slash Edwards, out off of Grange Hall Road.

So grew up in the country and went to Dunlap before Dunlap was the big school it is today.

- [Matt] I got ya.

- And yeah, been here ever since.

Went to college for a couple of years, lived in Chicago and came back.

- Came back.

Well, we're glad you're back.

So what exactly is the Kim Group?

- Yeah, so the Kim Group is basically, let me kind of tell you how we started real quick.

Because it's hard to say what the Kim Group does because really, it is what our clients need us to do.

So for years, I worked with my family construction company.

And a lot of times, we'd have businesses come in and say: We're expanding.

But we only can either put it towards the workforce or we could put it towards a new building.

We can't do both.

And I kept thinking: That shouldn't be a decision.

We should figure out a way to help you do both.

And so, my parents did a lot of design build, like a lease with option to sell.

And so I loved getting in 'cause it's exactly what I did at Accenture for the years I was there is look at businesses and figure out how to find profitable strategic solutions.

So in a nutshell, that's what we do as the Kim Group using real estate development and really business coaching as our tools.

Because we have businesses come to us.

For example, CxT.

Great location downtown, great product, but they just don't know how to get to that next step.

And they need that advocate.

And so really, the Kim Group is an advocate for businesses to step them through that process, to launch, to expand, to grow their business, and also to help to get the financing all put in place together.

And we do real estate.

- Yeah, but see, I think that's what I wanna talk about is because people see signs and see your name everywhere and Kim Group.

And people knew your dad.

But when you look at what you do, you think real estate.

But really, you mentioned that at the very end just now.

And the coaching piece is actually interesting.

Because we've had so many entrepreneurs on that a lot of times, everybody's always thinking about the money or the place, but they're not thinking about the strategy.

I mean, is that what you're saying?

You're helping with the strategy or the plan, so to speak?

- Yeah, so it's interesting.

'Cause when somebody comes in and talks to me, you know, they're trained by the community and by all the other I would say real estate professionals to say, "How many square feet do you need?"

And so they come in and they say, "I need, you know, 2000 square feet.

"I need this, this, and this."

So great, that's good.

What are you doing with your business?

Where's your business going?

How do your people interact?

You know, because a lot of times, we're finding we can put businesses in half the square foot, which lowers their costs, and then strategically place them in the launch.

But that is something nobody asked the questions.

So they don't slow down to speed up.

And so a lot of clients... - [Matt] They don't slow down to speed up.

- They don't slow down to speed up.

And so to me, I don't wanna be your partner for this transaction.

I wanna be your partner going forward.

So we work with a lot of small businesses that at first starts with: Okay, we want this location, this location.

Okay, why?

Why do you want three locations in downtown Peoria?

What's that gonna do for you?

What does that look like?

And start to really put together a business plan.

Because a lot of small businesses and entrepreneurs, well I always say if you knew what you were gonna have to do when you got into it, you would never get into it.

(laughs) But they don't know.

And they don't teach it to you at business school.

I've been there, did that.

They don't teach it to you, definitely not in high school, right.

But so, even going for financing for some of these companies, you know, they don't know how to do a personal financial statement.

They don't know how to do projections.

So we coach them through that.

And then again, if it's real estate or if it's just coaching or if it's just teeing it up.

And I love when you said it.

I would say it's not about the paycheck.

I need to be able to feed the family and do that.

But you look at what our services go for in a bigger market.

I mean, it's the passion.

And to me, the reason I left Accenture, you know, to come back to Peoria is because I wanted to be fulfilled.

So anybody can make a paycheck.

I mean really, anybody can go make a paycheck, but how do you get fulfilled?

And so to me, I'm married to a wonderful husband, Charles.

- [Matt] You had to get that plug in.

(Kim laughs) - It's Father's Day coming up, right.

And I remember coming home one day and just feeling empty.

And I was like: I am tired of nobody being able to help these small businesses.

And I said: "I wanna borrow $2,000 out of our account.

"And I wanna relaunch the Kim Group "with this Professional Service Division."

And he had enough faith and trust in me when I said, "And if it doesn't work after six months, "I'll get a real job."

And so we relaunched the Kim Group in 2015.

And a majority of what we do, about 80% to 90%, is our professional services.

- Wow, I would have never guessed.

So typically, and I'm gonna kind of, this question isn't baked in here.

I'm making this up right now.

You would be a typical real estate person as a landlord.

- Yeah, we're landlords.

- So you want the check.

But that's past business, right?

I mean, that's past thinking.

Okay, I own this strip mall or I own this property and I have eight businesses.

I want eight checks per month to pay off this to build my nest egg, you know, that whole thing.

But it's not that.

Because in today's, you tell me if I'm right, if this is your business.

In today's world, you are offering to hold their hand because each business is its own business.

It's all different, different needs.

Because if successful, your payoff is the longterm of seeing a business succeed.

- Yes, yes.

- Do I have that right?

- Absolutely.

And it's perfect you said "hold your hand."

Because when we interviewed Jeff and Martha Huebner, owners of Trefzger's, after the fact, that's exactly what Jeff said is like, "Katie held our hand through every step of the way."

Because, you know, they wanted to buy the building and then figure out how to renovate it.

And what we did is we said, "Wait a second.

"Your business can't afford the cost "that the construction is gonna be."

So for example, they, Trefzger's, moved into three times their space for one and a half times the rent increase.

They moved into three times their space for less than half the utility cost.

And all those things are how we structure the deal.

So we were able to go and get economic development funds, business development funds, TIF, SSA, and layer that in a way that is financially viable for the business to grow and succeed.

And like with Trefzger's, they have other tenants.

So they can eventually grow into those areas or use it as a retirement fund.

Because again, nobody really talks to small businesses about retirement except for 401k's and pension plans.

There's other assets that we need to get in that mix.

- Well and I'm gonna go back to Trefzger's in a minute.

But just to that point, it's almost like a lot of people don't go into a business... Because they're so excited.

"Oh, I'm opening a new business.

"It's gonna be great."

But what's the exit plan?

- [Katie] Yup.

- And most, I'm telling you 99% of the people I talk to, including myself when I opened up a business, I had no exit plan.

I had a mentor come to me and say, "I wanna know what happens if you fail or if you sell?"

- Oh, that's a great question.

- "Yeah, I wanna know what happens now.

"You haven't even opened the doors, man."

And so in a way, that's what you're doing.

- Yeah.

And definitely, we talk about exit plans.

So the other part of that is also teaching our business owners to look at their asset and leverage every part of it.

So is it the building?

Do you own the building?

Do you own the building separate?

Do you bring investors in?

And some people are like, "Whoa, investors.

"I wanna own my business."

I get that, and I want you to own your business too, but there's a leverage component.

And so, what I'm really excited about, what we've been able to do in the Warehouse District and even with Trefzger's is we bring younger people into those investments at levels that they can afford to come in at and teach them the process.

So like at Keller Station, for example, we have a couple of investors that are in at you know, 25,000 or 50,000.

It's their first investment.

And they're learning the process.

- And, you know, you're cultivating new business.

And I think that's very important.

COVID, it's an interesting time.

I don't wanna rehash a year.

But I do wanna say there have been businesses that have gone out of business.

But there have been a heck of a lot of businesses that are opening up too.

And that's refreshing.

- Yes, yeah.

I would say at Keller Station, we've had almost, almost all of our businesses growing and expanding.

So CxT when COVID hit, they launched online sales.

They started more of their corporate services.

We are now expanding them into a roasting facility less than a year and a half from when they opened their doors to six times their space, six times.

- Would that have happened if COVID didn't hit?

- Probably not as fast.

- [Matt] Probably not as fast.

- Probably not as fast.

- You have the dream, but this really accelerated that dream by threefold or however you want to look at it in many businesses.

You know, I've talked to so many different CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and just small business.

And every one that I talked to does have a silver lining slash business changed approach to how things are looking as we move forward.

- Yes, and I think you have to, right.

- [Matt] Where you gonna go?

- And your job as the CEO is you shift.

And even like in real estate, you know, when there's a down cycle, we always say there's always opportunity.

You know, the opportunity might be in a different sector than you're thinking, but it causes you to think of your business differently.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

- Okay, so I wanna go back to this Trefzger's building 'cause I love this building.

And there've been so many different renovations of old buildings here in Central Illinois.

Not just Peoria, Bloomington too.

I mean, there's some cool, cool buildings.

So how do you like from your lens look at a building like that and say, "Oh, I'm gonna put in a real good bakery here "and then hold their hand and bring in a photographer."

Where does that come from?

I mean, how do you start?

- So, I was a victim of child labor laws.

You know, my parents made me like go restore houses.

We would go into the crappiest house.

And my dad would be like, "Look, I bought this."

And my mother would be like, "This, this one?"

But I got to see at an early age taking something and looking at it for the bones and then how do we imagine it.

So it's interesting because when I walk through old buildings, all I see is what could be.

And so, it's interesting with Trefzger's building.

When we first met, they were talking to me about what they wanted.

And we started, we met with them for a whole new building.

And halfway during the meeting, and I was with my client at the time who had the land.

And I said, "This is not the place for you."

And I almost thought I was gonna get kicked out of the room.

And I said, "This is not what you want to be."

And I said, "I know a building coming online here "in like two weeks.

"Let's meet again."

And so it's interesting.

Two weeks later, they came back in and they said, "We know the building."

And they were like, "We're not sitting down "unless it's the same building."

And I was like: Oh, this is going to be, like this will be good.

And I said, "Okay, well don't judge."

And I told them that it was the exact same building.

And they said, "We wanna walk through it with you first."

And so we walked through it.

And they're like: Talk to us about what you see.

And I was like: Well, you told me this process flow and like the decorating needs to be near this.

And so we literally, I was like verbally laying out the space because I'd listened to them.

I listened to how their process goes.

And then we went to work on then the financials.

Because I don't wanna say anybody can do a development, but then it's also making the development sustainable as well as the business.

And bakeries make 1% to 2% profit.

There's no way that you could put the cost of that construction on a business.

So we didn't.

- Yeah, it's interesting because I think when you look at a business like that, to kind of dissect all of those revenue streams that possibly could come in, you're only typically only thinking of what you sell or what your product is, right.

- Yeah.

- And it's just like in my business, a nonprofit, you have to look at 50 different angles of revenue or you're not gonna be sustainable.

And you're talking the same thing.

That's interesting.

You have a fun story about the Trefzger's building that comes to the top of your head?

- Tons of fun stories.

(laughs) - See, I love this type of stuff.

Tell me something about that building.

I love the building.

- So the one we always give Charles a hard time on is like, he was with River City at the time.

And so we walk in to kind of give us a once over on the building and he goes, "Okay, so when we tear this down, "where do we put the new building?

"You want it to face this way?"

And Jeff and Martha and I are like: Uhhh, what do you mean?

Like this is it, you know.

And he's like: Oh, okay.

And he's married to me, so he knows my crazy.

But the building where we walked in had five different fires in it.

So there was like pieces of the floor missing.

There was so much stuff in it when we went upstairs, we got lost a couple of times trying to find the stairs back down.

- That's crazy.

- So we had to like figure out where the dust marks of our feet on the floor were to get through.

So I mean, it's never a dull day.

And you always find stuff in those buildings where you're like: What were they thinking?

But it's awesome when you have clients that get your vision, they see the same vision.

And then also, we had that building leased up like twice over.

We were actually supposed to go on the second floor 'cause we said we wanna have our offices there, right.

- [Matt] Right, it's cool.

- Yeah, we got leased out twice.

So the Identity Salon took our first spot, and then Photography by Jill took the rest of the floor.

And it was interesting 'cause Jill there in her business, she was like, "No, no, no, you stay up here."

I'm like: No, no, we lease ourselves out all the time.

Like don't even think about it.

- Yeah, this is the business I'm in.

I lease myself out, right.

(Katie laughs) That's funny.

So let's now talk Keller Station.

So I've always wondered like first of all, is that your vision or your team's vision?

I mean, I know you are a team player.

But I mean, how do you look at a building that is just I mean, I don't even recognize that building now.

And it was, I'd drive by it.

I'd drive by it every day.

My kids go to Keller.

And I'd drive by it every day on the way to work and I never noticed it.

And the thing's two blocks long or three blocks long.

I never even noticed the building.

- Well hopefully, you're noticing it now.

- Oh, we notice it now because I go there and you've seen me there.

It is hoppin'.

And how do you have that vision to get it to hoppin'?

- So that's a unique project.

So it's interesting 'cause Emily Cahill with the Peoria Park District asked me if I would look at this campus for her and see what the Park District could do to it.

And so I was like: I gotta walk through it.

'Cause to me, that's where my vision comes in.

Like I can see in 3D and I can like, okay, I can do this, I can do that.

And so we walked through the first floor and I was giddy.

'Cause I've driven by this building since I was in high school and being like: Somebody do something with this.

- Or tear it down.

(Katie laughs) - It's Fort Knox, I'm gonna tell you that.

And so, we were ready to go up to the stairs and she goes, "Are you ready?

"Are you okay?"

I'm like: Yeah, this is awesome.

And I'm like: What, you got some lead-based paint.

You got some asbestos.

I'm like, we're good.

Like let's go upstairs.

She goes, "This is usually when people "like run out the back door."

And so I went back and I said: You asked me to look at this building from your point of view, the Park District.

'Cause as a developer, I'm gonna say let's do a referendum.

We're gonna buy it, here you go.

One time infusion of cash, you're done.

But you asked me to look at it from the Park District standpoint.

And I said: What I see is you need to stay in the game.

You need to become part of the development team and help us put this together.

'Cause one, it will help the cost of the overall project.

But then two, it gives the Park District a revenue stream that doesn't cost them more overhead.

It doesn't cost them, you know, more personnel.

And they don't really have to do anything.

- So they own it?

- We do a ground lease with them.

- Wow, I did not even know that.

- Yeah, and we actually changed legislation to do it.

So we actually changed what the Park District can do from a 50-year lease to a 99-year lease.

- And so again, that goes back to community.

And that is how your blood flows, it's about community.

And so, you're looking at the Park District.

This is a huge win for them.

That is awesome.

- Yep, and when you talk about community, most of what we focused on with the Park District is we designed the spaces and the cost involved with the development so that small businesses could locate on Keller Station in a prime area, but not at a super crazy price which normally, again, historical renovation would cost.

- Well, what I like about it and really a lot of, most of your projects I think is it's all family-owned business.

That's the dream, right?

- Yeah.

- I mean, I've had that dream.

I've won and I've failed many times.

But you have that dream and, you know, you take CxT now as an example.

I mean, I was just there yesterday.

And you take that as an example of what a success.

And there's a lot of fun people that are going up against the Starbucks of the world, right, and especially in Central Illinois.

We've got that going.

So what am I missing here of new business that's gonna go in there?

Can you talk about anything new that's there or not?

- I can.

So what we call Building Two which is kind of behind CxT where it's at now, that used to be the old mechanics garage for Illinois Department of Transportation.

So it's a beautiful dome roof.

It's all like four-inch-thick wood timbers.

And I went in there the first time.

It was filled with stuff and storage and all the Park District stuff.

And I was just like: Oh my God, this is gorgeous.

And we blasted all the walls down.

So we, you know, exposed the firebrick that's there.

It has these beautiful windows.

I'm like: I can't put a wall up in here.

And so what we're doing is we're making it, we haven't launched it.

So this is the first launch of this is the Keller Station Terminal.

And what we've done is we've designed restaurant like pods.

So basically, we have six groupings, or six pods in a group.

We have two groupings, and then we have what we call the cage which used to be the tool room for the old mechanics.

And we've put in the grease line.

We've put in all the underground, three-compartment sink roughed in, all the stuff a restaurant needs.

So it's almost turnkey.

And then, they come and put the rest of the restaurant equipment in and design it exactly how they want it.

So we modeled it after Union Hall in Waco, Texas, and like Pike's Peak.

I know a couple people and a place in Vancouver.

And what we wanted was to have people sit along the outside by the big windows but get all different types of food and then be able to have the, again, small startup costs for a small business to get in, do a concept, see if the community, you know, accepts it.

- Diggin' it.

- Yeah.

And then, they can launch, right.

They can launch at Keller Station and go to a different location on campus or they can go somewhere else.

But it really helps them get in at a small cost and then, again, launch.

Because we have some outdoor seating area.

We're working with legal in the city to kind of close down part of our campus.

So we're gonna have some fun.

- There's a restaurant, Eataly, that, you know, it has that different concepts.

It's all Italian, but they have different types of seafood and pizza over here.

So I like that.

It's the modern day food court.

- Yeah.

I always say that it's much cooler.

(laughs) - [Matt] But a whole heck of a lot better feel.

- Yeah, so Andy, who used to be with Travis Mohlenbrink, is actually with another investment group now.

They're launching Cuisine Concepts.

And so, they just got their liquor license approved.

So again, Catholic, we believe in that miracle.

So they're gonna do six concepts.

And they're gonna do a New York style deli, the Whistle Stop.

And they're gonna do New York style pizza, Boxcar.

- [Matt] Yeah, I don't like that.

- Okay, sorry.

- I'm joking.

- And then, they're gonna do Poke and Ramen Bowls.

They're gonna have a craft beer bar.

They'll have other drinks as well, but that's gonna be one other focus.

Street tacos.

And then, they're gonna have gourmet grilled cheese, and then be able to do like cheese baskets-to-go in the park and have like a day of play.

- [Matt] Wow, that's cool.

- And then we're working with separately two, which I can't announce yet, but two small business entrepreneurs that do vegan based, you know, vegan menu and then also do like take-home and meal planning.

So we redesigned actually the front of the building that we're gonna have a road that drives around the front.

'Cause there's this really cool art deco foyer in the big building.

- [Matt] Yeah, that's awesome.

- And then, we decided to punch a hole through.

So we're gonna do curbside pickup parking there so you can come, grab and go, and then, you know, be on your way back home.

- That is really cool.

And it's right by the bike trail.

I mean, a lot of people just ride their bike and just pull over to the side, grab a coffee or whatever, grab a burger.

- Well, I remember that one of the days during COVID, right, where we were throwing different things.

So Studio C couldn't get inside yet.

So we did outdoor classes on Saturday morning.

And we had, you know, hip hop.

- I drove by many times, or rode my bike by it, yeah.

- And then we did a curbside market.

So for all the businesses that couldn't get in yet and launch, we had 'em all outdoors.

And I remember Mayor Ardis was sitting outside and having coffee one day and he goes, "I gotta talk to you "about what was going on here this weekend."

I'm sitting here: Oh Lord.

Like everybody was six feet apart.

We had masking there and I'm just got that Catholic guilt going on already.

And he goes, "No, no, no."

He's like, "Everybody was fine.

"Everybody was wearing masks."

I'm like: Yeah and the music.

He was like, "Everybody I saw..." 'Cause we spaced X's on for everybody to work out.

He goes, "And this patio was full."

I go: Okay, so like how am I in trouble?

He's like, "You're not in trouble."

He's like, "What are you doing here?"

And so, that is great.

I think COVID actually really helped be a billboard for all those people getting out on the trail.

Because that is what we wanna do at Keller Station.

We really wanna bring the community into it.

- How are you able to track progress?

Not data.

I'm talking your, in your heart, in your mind, in your business, how do you track progress?

I mean, what do you look at?

Is it someone's successful business opening, and sustainability, or how do you look at it?

- It depends what their goals are.

So like with our investors, it's usually a certain amount of money by a certain date.

You know, for me personally, it's also impact.

So where we took a lot of beatings, going back to the Trefzger building, we created a TIF.

We created a business development district.

We created an SSA.

But now what we look at is that business development district's giving over $180,000 a year to the Village of Peoria Heights.

That money was able to then create a scholarship program and a grant program during COVID for businesses and landlords.

That to me is but for Trefzger's having done that TIF, but for all those businesses paying into the business development district, that money wouldn't be there.

And for a small town, that's huge.

- People don't know that.

I mean, you're not there for the pat on the back.

But at the same time, people need to know that stuff.

Because, you know, it's not just opening a business.

And typically, people think: Well, we're bringing in more tax revenue.

That's not what it's all about all the time.

It's needed, but there are some other things.

We've got short time here.

So you're involved with boards.

So is Charles.

You're doing a lot of nonprofit work.

You're in all aspects of the community.

You have great kids.

Your dad and mom, still great.

I mean, your dad's a piece of work.

(Katie laughs) And I hope he watches this show.

- I have his DNA in me too.

I always say it to Charles.

- Oh really?

Oh really?

But, you know, I think the thing that I like to hit on at the end of each one of the shows that we do is the people that we have on here actually care about our community.

And I think it is the most important thing in a small community.

And Central Illinois could not be a better place to live.

Agree?

- Absolutely, absolutely.

When you say community, when Charles and I accidentally created a drive-in movie theater, that whole reason behind that is I said: I feel like our community is gonna tear each other apart with COVID.

I said: We gotta get 'em out.

And it was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun.

- You do a lot of great things.

Charles does some okay things.

(Katie laughs) I'm joking.

- [Katie] He's the good looking things (indistinct).

- Yeah, right, okay.

So keep it up.

- Thank you.

- Keep caring.

And this wraps up another show.

I'm Matt George.

And it's another episode of Business Forward.

(upbeat music)