Stars Aligned for Neillio’s Gourmet Catering to Buy

Connections made in the SBA’s THRIVE Emerging Leaders program made purchasing commercial real estate easy

Kevin O’Neill got started at 16 years old working in restaurants while in high school – later attending the Culinary Institute of America in New York City. 

After spending about 15 years cooking professionally in restaurants and hotels – Kevin converted his experience into gourmet catering and Neillio’s was born. 

Neillio’s moved into its current Lexington location in 1998 after launching the business in Arlington, sharing the building with a liquor store.  Growing more and more each year, O’Neill eyed the basement as an ideal area to build out a production facility and expand. When the liquor store owner eventually sold and the building came up for sale, the timing could not have been better.

O’Neill dreamed of owning his building, but it was out of reach until about five years ago.  He missed an earlier chance to buy when the building caught fire – being priced out of reach and unaware of financing options.  Then the building became available again, and O’Neill sitting on the edge of his seat, couldn’t believe how the stars aligned. 

“The timing was actually perfect,” said O’Neill. “I was fortunate to get into SBA’s THRIVE program while the building came up for sale and that’s when I learned about the SBA 504 program.” 

Kevin met Leader Bank Chief Lending Officer Matthew Pierce, who helped structure a deal that allowed O’Neill to preserve capital for future expansion, hiring more employees, and finally own the asset. New England BDC partnered with Leader Bank to package the SBA 504 loan.

“When we started 25 years ago, we didn’t even have this space,” said O’Neill.  “It was the first floor only – we cut the concrete, put the stairs in, put the elevator in… so we occupy the entire basement of the building right now.” 

Catering gets prepped in the basement and deliveries out the door by 11AM.  A daily variety of prepared foods, made to order sandwiches and frozen dinners are available in the retail store, where hundreds of visitors come weekly to impress for family dinner and fill their belly during lunch time.   

For O’Neill, the formula for success hasn’t changed, his advice for longevity in business: “quality, consistency, service, and price—keep them consistent and work hard every day at it.”