k2forma Uses PPP Loan to Help Its Employees and Nashville Small Businesses

Originally published May 1, 2020 in Nashville Post

Nashville-based creative agency k2forma is using its Small Business Administration COVID-19 loan to pay employees to provide pro bono branding and marketing for hospitality businesses disrupted by the coronavirus.

According to a release, Tempered Café and Chocolate and Green Hour Cocktail & Absinthe Lounge are two businesses benefitting. Both Germantown businesses were shuttered first by the March 3 tornadoes and then COVID-19.

k2forma’s pro bono work with Tempered and Green Hour includes market analysis, website creation, brand partnership and distribution research, product photography and collateral.

Thirteen-year-old k2forma works with clients in the hospitality, sports, manufacturing and health care industries. The firm received its Paycheck Protection Program loan through SmartBank’s community bank in Murfreesboro. As of April 22, SmartBank had processed about 1,700 loan applications and secured more than $240 million in PPP loan commitments as part of the CARES Act.

“We were fortunate to get a PPP loan and want to use it in a way that helps our employees and other small businesses disrupted by the coronavirus,” Kelly Koeppel (pictured), owner of k2forma said in the release. “We are paying it forward by using our expertise to help Tempered and Green Hour transition their businesses for the post-coronavirus world.”