West Philadelphia Owners Use City Grants to Scale
Local operators leverage municipal improvement funds to successfully launch a second storefront and diversify product offerings.
Updated on Oct. 30, 2026 in Openings & Closings
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West Philadelphia business owners Alex Malamy and Ilana Silber, who launched Cleo Bagels in 2023, expanded their local footprint by opening the cafe Little Bean in 2024. The owners navigated two years of initial renovations and utilized the city's Storefront Improvement grant program to grow their operations.
Why it matters
The transition from home-based production to multi-storefront operations highlights the importance of leveraging municipal capital improvement programs to scale neighborhood food businesses. By adding coffee service in response to customer demand, the owners successfully diversified their revenue streams in a competitive local market.
The business now manages two storefronts in West Philadelphia, an expansion realized after a decade of commercial experience that began with home baking in 2016. Operations are supported by the city's Storefront Improvement grant program, which helped transform the 44th Street space.
The players
Alex Malamy
Founder of Cleo Bagels and Little Bean who transitioned from home-based baking to commercial kitchen production.
Ilana Silber
Business partner and co-operator of the West Philadelphia storefronts.
The details
The owners evolved their business model by moving from home production to commercial kitchen manufacturing and consistent farmers market sales before securing their first long-term lease in 2021. Their expansion into the cafe segment with Little Bean allowed them to capture additional revenue through coffee drinks, a direct response to customer feedback. Accessing municipal grant funding for renovations provided the necessary capital to complete improvements on the storefronts.
Timeline
Alex Malamy began baking bagels at home in 2016.
The business was formally incorporated in 2019.
The lease for the first storefront was signed in 2021.
Cleo Bagels launched in 2023.
The Little Bean storefront opened in 2024.
Market Landscape
The owners' growth mirrors the strategy of independent operators utilizing Philadelphia's Storefront Improvement Program to stabilize physical locations in high-traffic urban corridors. This approach follows the trend of small businesses converting early market success into permanent brick-and-mortar anchors.
Operators looking to expand should audit municipal incentive programs to determine if renovation grants can reduce the capital burden of opening a second location. Scaling requires balancing original product lines with new service offerings, such as coffee, to meet specific customer requests.
The takeaway
Successful scaling often requires a multi-year transition from mobile or home-based retail to a fixed storefront, supported by city-backed improvement funding. Owners should verify their eligibility for municipal grant cycles annually to lower the overhead of facility upgrades.
Further reading
For more on how local entrepreneurs are managing site growth and facility costs, see Philadelphia Openings & Closings.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Technical.
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