Challenges
When Stefano first met with Mike Daniel at the Long Beach SBDC, he was selling buffalo wings via pop-up tents at local farmers markets. They began working on a business plan supported with an advertising campaign. Mike also helped Stefano implement a hiring plan and improve internal efficiencies. Stefano then met with Se’ Reed who reviewed the website, finding several performance issues. She helped Stefano move the site to a new hosting platform and improve his web presence.
Solutions
April 2015, Stefano met with Nathaniel Jemison who helped him secure a $75,000 loan for the purchase of the first truck. At the time he had 3 part-time employees with revenues around $35,000. May 2016 Stefano worked with Nathaniel once again to secure funding for an additional food truck. Stefano also met with Lori Williams, another SBDC advisor who helped him with accounting and financial forecasting. The company grew exponentially, hired three additional employees and increased revenues to $500,000.
Results
In less than four years Brew Wings went from selling solely through a pop-up tent at various events to a successful food truck and catering company. Today Brew Wings employees 12 full time employees with revenues above $800,000. The company serves about 100,000 customers yearly located in the LA, Orange County and San Bernardino Counties. This illustrates what can happen when an owner has a dream and a complete team of experts to help make it happen!
