Grand Island Police Chief Kevin Denny Visits Beverly Cake Shop for Community Policing Business Beat Episode - August 2, 2024
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Grand Island Police Chief Kevin Denny Visits Beverly Cake Shop for Community Policing Business Beat Episode - August 2, 2024
On August 2, 2024, Grand Island Police Chief Kevin Denny conducted a community policing visit to Beverly Cake Shop as part of the department's Business Beat initiative. Chief Denny interviewed Andres Herrera and his family about their journey from California to Grand Island, their family-owned cake business, and their experiences with law enforcement. The conversation highlighted the importance of intentional community outreach and building trust between police and residents.
Discussion Items
- Family History and Business Journey: Andres Herrera shared that his parents began making cakes in Guatemala, then sold them from a van in California, often facing police harassment despite having permits. The family moved to Grand Island around 2002-2003, initially struggled to establish the business, and eventually opened Beverly Cake Shop in 2014. The business is a true family operation, with Andres, his sister Betsy, parents Hugo and Hilda, and other relatives working there.
- Community Policing and Police Relations: Chief Denny discussed the department's shift toward 21st century policing, emphasizing hiring local officers and building relationships. He noted that the department is currently at full staffing after a year and a half, but officers are still completing training. Andres recounted that when his parents resumed selling cakes from a van in Grand Island in 2011, police officers would stop by to buy cakes, a stark contrast to their negative experiences in California. This positive interaction helped the family gain visibility and eventually open the shop.
- Business Operations and Future Plans: Beverly Cake Shop's top-selling product is a tres leches cake with fruit filling and homemade whipped cream. Andres described the challenges of running a family business, including sourcing supplies, ordering eggs, and maintaining the building. The family recently purchased a 21,000-square-foot building downtown to open a second location with five retail spaces and apartments, though progress has been slower than anticipated.
- Personal Values and Community Connection: Andres and his sister Betsy are Jehovah's Witnesses and dedicate time to teaching others about the Bible. Chief Denny praised the family's strong values and work ethic. Andres expressed that he would like the police department to continue being friendly and communicative, as demonstrated by the current visit.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes or decisions were made. The visit was a community engagement activity aimed at fostering positive police-community relations.
- Chief Denny committed to continuing intentional outreach, getting officers out of squad cars and into businesses to build lines of communication.
- The Herrera family's story serves as a testament to the impact of respectful policing on immigrant entrepreneurs and their willingness to engage with law enforcement.
Meeting Transcript
Hey everyone, Kevin Denny, Grand Island Police Chief. We're here at Beverly Cake Shop for another edition of the Business Beat. Let's go inside and meet Andres and his family. Hey Andreas and Herrera family, thanks for inviting me to Beverly Cake Shop. I'm really excited about what we're gonna do today. So I don't know what we have in store, but whatever it is, it's gonna be exciting, and I hope you guys already forgive me for making a mess of things. What are we gonna do today? Oh we're gonna be making some cakes, but first put this on. Alright, so tell me a little bit about uh how you came to this shop, the history of um of how you came to Grand Island, as a matter of fact. We talked about it earlier off camera, but uh tell me that again on on your parents, uh how they worked in California to get here and where you are now. So this is the the dream of two hardworking people of my parents and they my mom started learning how to make cakes when she was like 19 years old. Um she learned from a lady that was teaching at a university in Guatemala, and she learned all the recipes and so after that she started making them on her own. Um she would sell them to like different businesses so that way they could have desserts and she did that to support herself. Um then later on she moved to California, met my dad, and they had kids. Okay, and so she made cakes on and off to support themselves, but they always wanted to do something on their own. Right. And they didn't have a shop in California. No. How do they how did they do the business? So it started off first with um selling it out of their cars. Um so they had different uh mini vents and they would fix the back end so that way they could put different cakes. So and so my when I grew up that's what I remember seeing them do, right? We they would wake up early, bake the cakes, take us to school, come back, finish baking them, decorate them, and then pick us up from school, or sometimes they would already be selling out in the streets. And so um that's what they did to support all of us. And how many kids were there? It was four kids. Four kids. And they sold uh pastries and and cakes out of their out of their motor van. Yep. So all of our cakes they have a filling, so we cut it in half, and you just kind of place your hand on it and then take the knife, turn the cake, and then once you've met back with your cut, then you just go through the middle. Then you flip it, yeah, perfectly cut cake. Then you take your three fleeters milk, our secret concoction. Just a little bit, not a lot. We can't disclose the ingredients. No, we cannot. All right. Is this something that mom and dad came up with? Okay, well we don't want that. And uh is this something that's this something that mom and dad came up with? Yes. Yes, okay. Yeah, so they came up with all of even the recipe for the cake. Um, they came up with it as well. And so it's a very spongy cake that absorbs that milk and it allows it to hold. And then you take a scoop. Strawberry, a sweet peach. Just like that. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Easy peasy lemon squeezy for Kiana. Not for me necessarily.
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