Success Stories

VtSBDC Assistance Helps Rapid, Seamless Restaurant Transition

Replacing a longtime Burlington dining mecca with one of the state’s only full service restaurants specializing in modern French cuisine is a challenge any chef would recognize as a serious undertaking. But that didn’t stop chef Herve Mahe from opening Bistro de Margot at 126 College Street in September, 2015, just 10 days after purchasing the business.

Formerly the site of the popular Italian eatery L’Amante, which ran out of the location for 12 years prior, Bistro de Margot now serves up seasonally inspired French fare inspired by the memory of Mahe’s grandmother Marguerite.

“Before it was fashionable, she was a foodie and localvore, harvesting fruits and vegetables from her own garden for her kitchen and table. I still remember the aromas and flavors of her recipes that she concocted on the fly, inspired only by her intuition and especially by her desire to please her family,” Mahe said. “I have shared her passion since I was a boy.”

Mahe brings 30-plus years of experience in the culinary arts to Bistro de Margot. Born and raised in France, he trained at the prestigious Ferrandi School of the French Culinary Arts in Paris and at some of the finest restaurants in Europe, Canada and the United States. While he had a wealth of experience in the culinary world, he did need some assistance with the details of purchasing and buying the longtime eatery. That’s when he contacted Vermont Small Business Development Center Area Advisor Steve Densham.  (more…)

Success Story: Colorado

After 15 years in the glass industry, Kris and Valerie Petersen opened Petersen Custom Glass, LLC in 2014. Kris has extensive experience designing and installing custom glass products. His specific areas of expertise include high-end frameless shower enclosures, ADA accessible showers and other custom glass projects. With his leadership skills gained from the military and her executive skills, Petersen Custom Glass has become a successful local business in Parker, CO, serving a 25-mile radius in the metro area.

“We feel that starting up slowly and receving help from the SBDC along the way, we established a solid foundation from which to grow financially in the coming years.”

In October, 2015, Petersen Glass moved out of the 1100 sq-ft garage into a brick and mortar retail space. Business expanded quickly as capacity grew to include showroom and workshop space.

All three of the consultants in the Aurora-South Metro SBDC Lone Tree office assisted the Petersens with financing questions and concerns, advertising direction and a solid marketing strategy. With the consultants’ guidance and discussing the financial pros and cons of ‘taking the leap’, “we have been able to ‘crack the nut’ with an online presence and a new physical location.”  (more…)

Success Story: Idaho

As Derek & Sophia Bates began seriously talking about their long-imagined dream of owning a bakery, a memory of a visit to the Great Harvest Bread Co. in Logan came back to them. They sent for an information packet and decided Great Harvest was a good fit.

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Success Story: Washington State

By Hope Belli Tinney, Washington SBDC

When WWII-era buildings at the Port of Moses Lake, Washington needed work in 2013, Sonico, the aircraft parts repair and maintenance business leasing those buildings, was told it would have to depart.

The simplest solution was to move to the I-5 interstate corridor near SeaTac – for close access to the aerospace customer base and a variety of lease options. But Sonico didn’t want to withdraw – or remove 45 good-paying jobs – from the town that had been its home for more than 30 years.

The problem, said company president W.B. “Bill” Perdue, was there was nowhere in Moses Lake to relocate. New construction had been on the drawing board for years, he said, but he’d been stymied in his efforts to find financing for a state-of-the-art Federal Aviation Administration-certified facility.

It took more than three years to work through that problem and others, but Sonico finally began construction of their new 28,000-square-foot building this summer, thanks in part to business advising from the Washington Small Business Development Center (SBDC).  (more…)

Success Story: Missouri (A-Plus Contractors LLC)

It’s well after 5 p.m., but Will Sanders, owner and co-founder of A-Plus Contractors in Saint Charles, Missouri, a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) specializing in dump truck work and heavy equipment hauling, excavation and power washing throughout the St. Louis area, is excited. But also a little tired.

“I am just a hard-working, ordinary guy,” he says of himself. “I am boots on the ground, boots in the office all day.”

Those boots are getting a lot of wear at Lambert Airport tearing out old concrete, hauling dirt and old concrete, laying new concrete and even planting trees as a subcontractor. And they’ll get even more on projects soon underway around Maline Creek, a small tributary of the Mississippi River on the northern edge of the City of St. Louis that’s suffered from severe erosion, and on the seven decades old, deteriorated Route 47 Missouri River Bridge, among other projects.

Sanders has almost a quarter century of industry experience, and he established the business in 2009. But the business didn’t really take off until 2014, when Sanders purchased his first dump truck.

That number has swelled to seven in just a year. He jokes he spends his lunch hour shopping for trucks. Sanders expects company revenues to be about $500,000 this year, significantly up from 2014.  (more…)