Walt’s Seasonal Cuisine : A Pinellas County Success Story

SBDC recently helped a Pinellas Restaurant gain access to an emergency loan fund. Walt’s Seasonal Cuisine, a Pinellas county restaurant, has benefited from Florida’s Emergency Bridge Loan program. The loan program, coordinated locally by the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at USF, provided a much needed injection of cash to the restaurant for marketing initiatives they had planned to cope with current conditions.

Due to the effects of the oil spill the restaurant began to experience a decline in sales. The owner developed some aggressive strategies to help them cope with the downturn in business but they needed a little help to keep them afloat until their strategies flourished. The owner found information about Florida’s Bridge loan by contacting the Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA guided the owner to the Florida Small Business Development Center Network on the Floridaoilhelp.com website. The owner’s point of contact was SBDC certified business analyst Alejandro Rodriguez. Rodriguez provided the restaurant owner with details on how to apply for the bridge loan, requirements for the bridge loan, and several other questions as the process moved along. The owner gathered the necessary documentation and forwarded the information to Rodriguez. The loan documentation was organized and presented to an independent committee which approved the loan.

Florida’s Bridge loan is an interest-free loan for eligible businesses. These loans are processed for amounts up to $25,000 and with a term of up to 12 months. The SBDC at USF was designated as the local agency for assisting clients with questions, gathering the required paperwork, creating, hosting, and managing the loan committee, and closing the loan for those impacted businesses in need of a Florida Bridge loan. The SBDC provides assistance to small businesses in a variety of subjects including Business Continuity and Risk Management Program (BCRM). Floridaoilhelp.com was created to be the central source of information for businesses in the State of Florida with questions related to the Bridge Loan. The Governor activated Florida’s Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program on June 7, 2010.

On August 20, the loan was signed for Walt’s Seasonal Cuisine and a check was deposited in the restaurant’s business account. Thanks to Florida’s Bridge Loan program, the SBDC at USF and the efforts of the loan committee, dishes will continue to sizzle at Walt’s Seasonal Cuisine.