How Charter is Helping Small Businesses Nationwide

Small businesses are the backbone of local economies across the country, capturing the spirit of American entrepreneurship and work ethic. During National Small Business Week, we’re showcasing some of our support for small businesses throughout our 41-state footprint. This work is about more than expanding access to connectivity – it’s also about helping small business owners and their customers benefit from our state-of-the-art products and services.

Here’s a snapshot of the small businesses that are benefitting from Charter’s investments every day:

GreaterHealth Pharmacy & Wellness – St. Louis, Missouri

GreaterHealth Pharmacy & Wellness is a first-of-its-kind, Black-owned pharmacy in St. Louis. It’s also a participant in Spectrum REACH’s Pay It Forward program, which provides small business participants with advertising and creative services, mentoring, and educational resources. With the Pay It Forward program, the local community could see GreaterHealth Pharmacy & Wellness on TV – helping people reimagine how pharmacies are perceived in communities of color and throughout the U.S. Three months into the advertising campaign, GreaterHealth saw a 23% increase in calls to transfer prescriptions.

North Haven Oyster Company – North Haven, Maine

Connecting remote island communities like North Haven is no small feat, but it makes a world of difference to small business owners who need high-speed internet to maintain their livelihood. Adam Campbell, commercial lobsterman and owner and operator of North Haven Oyster Company, said, “It’s super important to be connected. We need to be in touch with our customers. We do a lot of ecotourism on our website these days, and that’s how we make a living.” Spectrum’s $82 million network investment across Maine is delivering access to reliable connectivity that business owners like Adam need to thrive.

Smoke-a-Holics BBQ – Fort Worth, Texas

Derrick Walker turned his hobby competing as a BBQ pitmaster into a full-time career. Charter’s Spectrum Community Investment Loan Fund helped give Derrick’s restaurant, Smoke-a-Holics, the solid foundation it needed to succeed. Through the Loan Fund program, his business gained financial support for continued growth, and it was eventually named among the top 50 BBQ restaurants in all of Texas. The Spectrum Community Investment Loan Fund’s impact on his business contributed to the creation of nine jobs at the restaurant and allowed Derrick to invest more money back into his business, his family, and his community.

Hiller Vacation Homes – St. Germain, Wisconsin

The Northwoods of Wisconsin is known for its natural beauty, but as a region of the state where infrastructure is significantly underdeveloped, rural towns like St. Germain have historically lacked access to reliable internet. Charter’s investments helped small businesses like Hiller Vacation Homes gain the connectivity it needed to enhance operations and attract more customers. Angela Foulks, Hiller’s Director of Marketing and Acquisitions, said, “Small businesses in particular were having a hard time connecting with vendors, channels, and cloud-based services.” In 2023, Charter completed a major expansion to bring gigabit-speed internet to 1,300 families and small businesses in St. Germain and neighboring towns, completing approximately 900 miles of network construction.

Sunrise Dairy – Pleasant Hill, Tennessee  

In the rural town of Pleasant Hill, Sunrise Dairy was experiencing extremely slow speeds with their wireless internet service. That all changed when Charter deployed its gigabit-speed broadband, mobile, TV, and voice services in the community through our multi-year rural construction initiative, including expansion projects supported by the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). The team at Sunrise Dairy now conducts business with ease and efficiency, using this reliable connectivity for dairy product sales, milk delivery orders, and more.