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Veteran Owned Business for Hardware Stores

Written By Sunday, March 27, 2022 Add Comment Edit

Veterans Day events to be held across northern Santa Barbara County

Only before Ben Honeycutt finished a iv-twelvemonth enlistment in the Marine Corps in May 2013, he enrolled in entrepreneurship classes and imagined himself starting a mechanic business when he moved back to his habitation state of Kansas. Instead, he ended up opening a hardware store in Orcutt.

Merely it wasn't an immediate process. Last Saturday, Honeycutt held a grand opening ceremony in the parking lot next to his business — the Oak Knolls Hardware store — the result of more vii years in the aerospace industry working for companies such as SpaceX and Firefly.

His desire to be independent was strong. He purchased the hardware store, which carried Ace products, just the company required him to essentially become a franchise in order to keep selling that brand.

"I was going to be a manager and that'due south non what I wanted," Honeycutt said. "I wanted to ain my own store."

Oak Knolls Hardware

Honeycutt'southward hardware store is ane of more than than 400,000 veteran-owned businesses, which make upward only a pocket-size portion of the five.4 million businesses in the U.s.a., according to a 2014 Census Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs. They include a broad range of sectors, from real estate to retail to professional services, and the vast majority of them are modest businesses.

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The Oak Knolls Hardware store is located at 1155 East. Clark Ave. in Orcutt.

Selling hardware products wasn't what Honeycutt did for a job in the Marines; he was a mechanic for F-18 fighter jets with the VMFA-323 "Death Rattlers," a fighter squadron based out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. In 2011, his squadron was fastened to a carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), deploying to the Western farsi Gulf and the East Pacific.

Wanting to have a like job in the San Diego expanse when he left the Marines, he applied to a list for an aerospace aviation mechanic with SpaceX, a company he never heard of that had a position open up at Vandenberg Air Force Base of operations.

Honeycutt worked for SpaceX for well-nigh six years at Vandenberg, where he was responsible for preparing rockets for launch. He participated in 69 launches at both Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral.

Wanting a fresh start, he left SpaceX in February 2019 and briefly worked at Firefly Aerospace. He eventually followed upward on owning a business, which had been on his mind since SpaceX.

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Veteran Ben Honeycutt, possessor of the Oak Knolls Hardware store, helps a customer Tuesday forenoon.

"Aerospace is fun, it really is, just yous got to put in a lot of piece of work and if I was going to put a lot of work like that into something, I want it to be my own," Honeycutt said.

But as he was about to close on the hardware store in March, the pandemic hit. The previous owners were gracious enough to refuse to sell to him at that fourth dimension due to the impending financial crunch, and didn't want him to start off on the wrong foot, according to Honeycutt.

But the shop did ameliorate than expected despite the pandemic, and Honeycutt airtight on the property later in the yr.

He changed a few things, like dropping the "and Home Center" portion of the previous name and went live with an online delivery service.

The previous owners handed over a handful of newspaper clippings showing how the location evolved from a movie theater in the 1960s to a dependable local hardware provider.

"We care about the community," Honeycutt said. "We care about giving back."

'100-day challenge' aims to house homeless veterans, families in Santa Barbara County

Nutrient Inc. of Santa Barbara

Anthony Minniti, a local Navy veteran, owns Food Inc. of Santa Barbara, a pocket-size catering company delivering gourmet meals to organizations and individuals.

Similar to Honeycutt, Minniti'due south path to entrepreneurship in the culinary manufacture didn't exactly match what he did in the Navy.

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Veteran Ben Honeycutt is the possessor of Oak Knolls Hardware located 1155 E. Clark Ave. in Orcutt.

Minniti was a gunner's mate on the USS Waddell (DDG-24), deploying to the Middle East and dorsum before getting out after a four-year enlistment. On the Waddell, he was responsible for upkeep on the Marking 42 gun mounts, which fire five-inch projectiles.

He left presently before the start of the Gulf State of war in the early 1990s and came home to California to aid family, working in construction jobs. In 1992, he watched a recruitment video for the CIA — the Culinary Plant of America.

As a person who'south one-half Italian and one-half French, nutrient was a big part of Minniti's life, simply the video ignited a passion.

"That was it, I wanted to be a chef," Minniti said.

Afterwards attending classes for two years Minniti graduated. He excelled in his coursework, which landed him a coveted position working at the CIA's new West Declension campus in Napa.

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Various colored photos from children hang at the Oak Knolls Hardware shop after a recent barbecue and raffle outcome held for veterans.

Like many business owners, Minniti experienced ups and downs. On Sept. 11, 2001, Minniti was preparing to cater a large issue of about 250 people in Walnut Creek, but that was abruptly canceled after 2 hijacked planes slammed into the Earth Trade Center in New York, one crashed in a Pennsylvania field and another striking the Pentagon.

In 2018, he started Food Inc. and was preparing to outset his Healthy MRE (meals ready to eat) side of the business this spring, when the pandemic struck. That's when "homestyle" was born.

Homestyle meals are an elevated style of cooking using healthy ingredients and delivered directly to customers' doors for an affordable price, according to Minniti.

In addition to delivering meals to individuals, Minniti too supplies meals for veterans at New Beginnings in Santa Barbara.

After moving to the Central Coast in 2003, Minniti believes he constitute his niche.

"I'm happy where I'm at," Minniti said. "I'm happy what I'm doing and I'm growing a brand. I tin can't complain."

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