Venturing into the depths of a new franchise business isn't foreign to Steve and Catherine Mills. They've already successfully owned and operated a franchise tax service.
What' new for them is the type of business. Soon they'll open Cape Girardeau's newest seafood restaurant, Joey's Seafood and Grill.
"A restaurant is Steve's dream," says his wife Catherine. "Neither of us have much experience in the restaurant industry, but we both have considerable management experience."
Steve worked at Biokyowa, Inc. for 22 years, most recently as operations manager. The Mills bought the local franchise of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service in 1997. Catherine managed the office full-time for the past four years until they sold it last September. Proceeds from that sale have helped them pursue their plans for the restaurant.
"We knew that we wanted a franchise for our next business, regardless of what industry that might be in," Catherine explains. "We had worked with a great franchise system in the past and knew what a benefit that was. Of the franchise opportunities available, a restaurant made the most sense for us."
The entrepreneurial duo is busy finishing the construction phase of the restaurant and hopes to open for business in the next few weeks. It will be the culmination of a year-long process devoted to hard research and financial planning.
Back in September 2004 Steve and Catherine attended "Discovery Day" in St. Paul, Minn., the U.S. headquarters for Joey's, a Canadian-based company. The Mills were impressed with the details they uncovered including start-up costs and the training program. They also "mystery shopped" several St. Paul locations to learn about Joey's from the customers' point-of-view.
"We were blown away. The service was fast and friendly and the food was phenomenal," proclaims Catherine.
"Finally, to make sure we didn't let our excitement sign the franchise agreement, I called every Joey's franchisee or general manager in the country to make sure that it also made business sense. Fortunately there were only about 15 franchises at that time."
So, on to the next step: financing. But they needed help to prepare for this stage. That's when they sought the services of Larry Cooper and the Missouri Small Business Development Centers (MO SBDC) at Southeast Missouri State University. The local SBDC is part of the Columbia-based Missouri SBDCs, affiliated with the University of Missouri Extension business development programs.
"I needed help writing a business plan and applying for an SBA (Small Business Administration) guaranty for a loan," says Catherine. "I had never written a business plan before or even applied for a business loan."
Cooper reviewed Catherine's initial effort on the business plan.
"He gave suggestions on what to change, which was most of it, and what I needed to support better, which was the rest of it," she recalls. "He quickly identified areas that I hadn't even thought to research and gave me tips on where and how to find that information."
Her SBDC guru also assisted with the financing paperwork and the SBA guaranty application.
"After seeing that package of forms and what was required to fill them out, I am not sure that I would have ever gotten the SBA guaranty without his help," Catherine says. "I really believe that it was Larry's experience and expertise that made the entire process so flawless."
After the SBA provided the guaranty and the bank made the loan Cooper had one final piece of advice for his clients.
"He said that now that I had spent a year gathering information and creating my budget, it is imperative that I stick with it: if one expense goes up, then you have to make up for it somewhere else," she recounted. "That's one of those common sense things that you write down and tape to your computer or you'll lose sight of it at the first turn."
What does Cooper think about his client's future as Cape Girardeau's newest seafood restaurateurs?
"I'm confident in their abilities and I know Catherine and Steve are very grateful and relieved that this opportunity developed the way it has, so they can get back in a situation where they are working together," says Cooper.
And not only will they be working together at their Cape Girardeau restaurant. They also plan to open Joey's restaurants in Paducah, Ky., and Carbondale, Ill., over the next three years.
Because of their determination and business savvy, the Mills will represent the SBDC at the second annual Client
Showcase and Legislative Breakfast Thursday, Feb. 9, in the State Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City.
At that event hosted by MO SBDC, the Mills and representatives from more than a dozen other outstanding Missouri companies will meet with legislators to discuss their products and services. They also will be recognized for their contributions to the economic development of the state of Missouri. Recognition from MO SBDC will be accompanied by legislative resolutions presented by each company's district state senator and state representative.
For more information on the services of the MO SBDC program, call Larry Cooper at 573-986-6084 or e-mail him at ljcooper@semo.edu
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