Each year, Misha Murphy mixes together cinnamon, pecan, coconut and pineapple to make hummingbird bread topped with cream cheese icing, in honor of her mother’s birthday. “She passed away back in 2013, so this bread’s for her,” Murphy said.

Murphy learned how to bake from her mother, and she carries that love forward to those around her. “I absolutely love food, and I try to share that love,” Murphy said.

Over time, she built that love into a small cottage bakery and, eventually, a full-time food business.

Now, in Murphy’s food truck, the burgers sizzle, and the smell of homemade seasoning mixes with the smell of frying onion rings, wafting out over the spare lot next to their home in Almyra, Arkansas (pop. 256).

“Almyra is a very tiny town, but it’s a loving community,” Murphy said. “They love to see people grow.”

Murphy moved to Arkansas from South Mississippi, when she fell in love with her now-husband, Nick Murphy. The two had met years earlier as young teens, after Misha became online friends with Nick’s stepsister.

Today, Misha and Nick work together “24/7,” often in close quarters, as they take orders, cook, prep, plate and visit with customers.

It’s a labor of love for the couple, but economic slowdown has hit Eastern Arkansas, and food service is brutal. The majority of eateries fail within three years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As she navigates ripples of economic uncertainty, Misha Murphy consults with a nonprofit partner that has walked with her since she wrote her food truck business plan. With guidance from the entrepreneurship team at nonprofit Communities Unlimited (CU), Murphy is now developing a host of new offerings that share her love of food in creative ways.

“Unfortunately, in this economy, people are just not eating out as much,” Murphy said. “So we’ve been trying to think of everything.”

Murphy’s Bakery and Burgers now offers delivery service and meal prep, offering five lunches a week for an affordable, set price. Many meal prep clients are married couples or caretakers for the elderly, and delivery orders are popular with school and hospital workers on a short lunch break.

“People love that here, because it just saves them time and energy,” she said. These services have become so popular that they now make up an estimated 80 percent of orders. 

Murphy’s Bakery and Burgers is one of the only places to get food in Almyra. “We’re also doing meal planning, so they can say, ‘I’m feeding a family of four with such-and-such allergies,’ and I’ll actually sit down and offer them a month’s worth of meal planning on cards, recipes with macros, everything,” Murphy said. 

Murphy has started teaching kids’ cooking classes and is planning online cooking classes. She’s expanding to grocery pick-ups for a small fee, for those who can’t drive to Little Rock, an hour and a half away.

CU’s support during hard economic times continues a long-term relationship that started as a simple, everyday conversation between neighbors: Murphy’s neighbor Chantel Poor works for CU and introduced her to the organization when Murphy prepared to open the food truck.

Murphy holds a degree in business administration with an emphasis in entrepreneurship, and she ran a successful cottage bakery for several years before launching her food truck. She already had a detailed business plan, but preparation with CU ensured Murphy was loan-ready and set her up for success when she transitioned to CU’s Lending Team, which approved her Small Business Administration (SBA) loan in May 2024.

Access to capital can be an especially big hurdle for entrepreneurs in small towns. SBA loans can help entrepreneurs like Murphy access capital to build businesses that keep dollars circulating locally.

“Communities Unlimited is amazing, and I recommend them to everyone who has a business or needs help or wants to open a business,” Murphy said. “You’re not just a number to them. They still want to help, and that’s amazing, especially in today’s world.”

Down the road, she dreams of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant—but Murphy never wants to quit taking her food truck to special events, “traveling to feed new people” at auctions and women’s events and serving up hibachi at the cherry blossom festival in Scott, Arkansas.

“I love playing with new flavors,” she said. Right now, she’s excited about a brand new offering, pecan pie egg rolls. “You just do pecan pie filling, you put it in your egg roll, and you fry it up, and it is just so good,” she said. “With ice cream it’s even better.

As Murphy expands her offerings, her goal is to keep building a business that serves her neighbors while creating opportunities in her small town.