Uncle Boy’s Burgers
“John has followed all of our advice, completed a successful business plan, is now completing the build-out and permitting process and is on track for a successful opening in early 2009.”
Our Youth Entrepreneurship Program partnered in 2008 with JumaVentures, a job training program for minority young adults. Juma operates the café at San Francisco’s City Hall and the SBDC restaurant consultants have provided training to their café workers. We met John Espejo, a 25 year-old, on a tour of SF restaurants we conducted for the Juma workers. John is a Juma graduate and a current City College student who wanted to open a hamburger shop near the University of San Francisco. He had EARN funds he had accumulated from Juma along with some family money.
Challenges
John had found a location, had signed a lease and was looking at a build out but didn’t have a business plan when we met. He also had limited restaurant experience and, without our assistance, could have squandered the money he had accumulated. We judged him to have what it takes to make a go of the business but he needed our help to learn to plan and properly manage the enterprise.
Gameplan
We immediately engaged our restaurant team to help him develop his plans and to advise him on how to proceed. We also had him attend our restaurant classes. Our lead restaurant consultant began to work with him, help him develop his business plan and point him in the right direction for getting necessary permits. Our financial advisor helped him complete his financial projections.
Results
John has followed all of our advice, completed a successful business plan, is now completing the build-out and permitting process and is on track for a successful opening in early 2009.
