Success Stories

In 2009 Diana Ambauen-Meade was raising chickens in her backyard in Bremerton, Washington. She could not find organic poultry feed suitable to feed her flock so she decided to produce her own. As the backyard chicken movement started to take off, Ambauen-Meade was soon inundated with requests for her organic feed. This led to the decision to build a mill – together with husband Dennis Meade and son Bryon Meade - and Scratch and Peck Feeds was born. Business grew steadily each year but Ambauen-Meade wanted additional assistance to steer growth strategically.

Solution

Ambauen-Meade connected with SBA resource partner SCORE for free, expert and confidential business mentoring. Her SCORE mentor reviewed Scratch and Peck’s numbers and provided her with a toolkit of accounting ratios to measure the financial health of her business quickly. She also graduated from the SBA Emerging Leaders program, a seven-month executive education series designed for businesses on the brink... Read More

Diana Ambauen-Meade - CEO of Scratch and Peck Feeds

Situation

In 2009 Diana Ambauen-Meade was raising chickens in her backyard in Bremerton, Washington. She could not find organic poultry feed suitable to feed her flock so she decided to produce her own. As the backyard chicken movement started to take off, Ambauen-Meade was soon inundated with requests for her organic feed. This led to the decision to build a mill – together with husband Dennis Meade and son Bryon Meade - and Scratch and Peck Feeds was born. Business grew steadily each year but Ambauen-Meade wanted additional assistance to steer growth strategically.

Solution

Ambauen-Meade connected with SBA resource partner SCORE for free, expert and confidential business mentoring. Her SCORE mentor reviewed Scratch and Peck’s numbers and provided her with a toolkit of accounting ratios to measure the financial health of her business quickly. She also graduated from the SBA Emerging Leaders program, a seven-month executive education series designed for... Read More

Staff making fresh tortillas

Situation

As Bernie Garcia took joint ownership of his father’s restaurant and assumed the role of president of Moctezuma’s in 2005, following this restaurant’s 27 years in operation, he knew he wanted to grow the business substantially. With two already successful locations, Garcia decided to rebrand and expand.

 

Solution

During the next 10 years, with help from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 7a Loan Program, Garcia rebranded the restaurant to Moctezuma’s Restaurant and Tequila Bar. He found success in offering more than 100 brands and types of tequila. Using the SBA 7(a) Loan Program again, he opened two more locations in the south Puget Sound area.

 

Impact

Garcia’s rebranding and expansion paid off. Moctezuma’s went from $3 million in annual revenue to more than $18 million. Plus, the business employs nearly 400 staff at four locations in Gig Harbor, Silverdale, Tacoma and Tukwila, Washington. The restaurant has... Read More

Earl Overstreet, Founder of GMI

From Printer Parts to the Cloud:
8(a) Contracting Helps Business Evolve, Thrive

Earl Overstreet, General Microsystems Inc (GMI)

Today most of us carry a high capacity digital storage device in our pocket or purse every day.  The device, a smartphone, can store over eleven gigabytes of our favorite photos, music, and other digital content.

Thirty years ago, that kind of storage capacity was rare and extremely expensive.

Earl Overstreet, owner of General Microsystems Inc. (GMI), describes how the need for high capacity digital storage created an opportunity for his firm.  “The University of Washington Applied Physics lab bought a computer system to take to the Arctic for some oceanographic experiments.  The project hit a snag when they realized they would be collecting eleven gigabytes of data.  No storage device existed in 1984 that met their requirements.  They turned to GMI, a business that had only been around for about a... Read More

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