The Atlanta Beltline has expanded its small-business incubator program to 13 businesses, adding entrepreneurs offering everything from vegan food and desserts to fashion, gifts, specialty foods and haircuts.
The Atlanta Beltline Marketplace program provides affordable commercial space and business mentoring to local entrepreneurs. The latest group more than doubles the number of businesses from the program’s previous cycle, which had six. Eighty-five percent of the businesses in the new class are Black-owned.
The program now has four locations along the Beltline: Marketplace @ Allene on the Southwest Trail, Marketplace @ Freedom Parkway on the Eastside Trail, the new Marketplace @ Irwin on the Eastside Trail and Marketplace @ Pittsburgh Yards at the Container Courtyard at Pittsburgh Yards on the Southside Trail.
At Marketplace @ Allene, 1089 Allene Ave. SW, businesses include Glaciers Italian Ice, founded in 2021 by Ian Elmore-Moore, which sells homemade Italian ice and operates a youth entrepreneurship program; and Good As Burgers (GAB’S), founded by Cornoy Watkins, which specializes in plant-based food and vegan burgers.
Marketplace @ Freedom Parkway, near the Thomas Taylor Memorial Skatepark under the John Lewis Freedom Parkway Bridge, features Kronchy, which serves Mexican-Colombian tacos and arepas; Life Bistro, an Atlanta vegan restaurant offering pastas, oyster mushrooms, soul food-inspired dishes, juices and desserts; and Mason’s Super Dogs, a gourmet hot dog business founded by Atlanta entrepreneur Mason Wright when he was 9 years old.
The new Marketplace @ Pittsburgh Yards, 352 University Ave. SW, includes Carrot Dog, which uses marinated organic carrots as a plant-based alternative to hot dogs; Coffyn Pyes, which sells hand pies with Southern, Cajun, Indian and Thai-inspired fillings; Ideal Barber Group, an Atlanta barbershop founded by Mike and Chaunte Andrews; and The Creamy Spot by GOAP, which offers plant-based ice cream and popsicles.
Marketplace @ Irwin, at 680 Irwin St. NE, features ELEVEN17, a fashion business founded by Ashley Elizabeth Thompson; eLo Vegan Lifestyle, which sells handmade soaps, aromatherapy products and locally sourced gifts; Try Deas and Other Treats, a Georgia-based company specializing in flavored pecans, cashews and almonds; and Vine & Olive, which offers more than 40 varieties of olive oils and balsamic vinegars.
Each Marketplace location contains up to four business spaces housed in customized shipping containers. The program reviewed more than 125 applications before selecting the current entrepreneurs.
