Success Stories Archives

Fortified Development Trucking

Fortified Development Trucking strives to be an innovative and solutions-driven minority-owned trucking company, challenging their drivers to provide reliable and excellent customer service while balancing their career and family. Their mission is to become the transporter of choice for construction hauling and short- and long-hauling from coast to coast. With the byline “Realizing Potential at Every Level in the Trucking Industry”, Fortified Development Trucking offers reliable, safe, timely delivery that is the most cost-effective trucking carrier available for construction hauling projects and line-haul in all 48 states.

Fortified Development Trucking is a family-owned business, based in Aurora, that began in October of 2019. Owners Arthur and Monica Gilbert come from a trucking family in Pittsburgh, PA. After years in the corporate world, with husband Arthur in real estate and their son also in business, they decided to research the trucking industry. They found low-paying opportunities with taxing schedules, making it difficult to maintain a healthy home life. In response to the struggle, the partners pooled their experience to create a solution to meet their needs, as well as offering viable employment opportunities for individuals coming out of incarceration.

They started their business with personal investments, credit cards, and a Small Business Administration loan from the Colorado Enterprise Fund. They believe in building relationships. Through partnerships with the community and the trucking industry, they are working to build a transportation company that delivers not only freight, sand, gravel, dirt, and more, but also “Hope“ to the community.

Their partnership with the Aurora-South Metro SBDC has spanned four years, gaining assistance in business planning, lending options, trucking regulations and government certification. Today, with help from the SBDC’s certification consultant, they hold the following small business certifications: MBE, DBE, WBE, SBE and ESB. Business is booming, with annual revenues increasing six-fold from 2021 to 2022. They’ve also added three full-time employees for a total of five.

“The Aurora-South Metro SBDC has helped our business connect with technical resources, prime contractors, and other invaluable tools to sustain our business.” Fortified Development Trucking doesn’t just talk about hope for the community but they now provide prevailing wages for those who want to work in the transportation industry. Learn more at www.fortifieddev.com.

Banh & Butter Bakery Café

Success Stories / By saraeknudsen

“The SBDC helped me better understand and prepare my business plan. Growing up in a family business, a business plan was all about going with the flow. I never knew what a cash flow was, but support from the SBDC has increased my business knowledge.” – Thoa Nguyen

CEO and owner Thoa Nguyen is a pastry chef by day and a culinary chef by night. Branching out from the family’s restaurant, she studied baking and pastry arts, then traveled to France to continue her education, discovering a deeper meaning for food. “It has a way of connecting me to people, culture, art, memories, stories and experiences.” In fact, Plated Culture is her LLC. It’s this concept that describes food as a worldwide language.

Thoa took out a personal loan to start and grow the business. With a solid and realistic business plan, Banh & Butter Bakery Café has survived its first year as a small business in Aurora near the Anschutz Medical Center, exceeding projections. What was a set menu, Thoa quickly recognized the demand for lunch items after interacting with the community. So, pastries and coffee became pastries and sweets, coffee and specialty drinks, baguette and croissant sandwiches, breakfast all day and merchandise items. The bakery’s customers include students, teachers, service workers, neighborhood regulars, seniors, medical personnel and more.

“The Aurora-South Metro SBDC has resources that go beyond business planning. They keep in touch with my business, answer my business questions as I grow and help find resources for funding.”

Expanding on the bakery’s merchandise, the bakery will soon offer online orders and delivery. There is good potential in farmers markets throughout the year and special event catering. Thoa is researching the right products for grocery stores and wants to create an online store to ship nationwide. The key to Banh & Butter’s success is listening to customers and keeping up with demand.

Banh & Butter is community based. They outsource their products locally, including a plant vendor, jerky vendor and coffee supplier. The bakery showcases artists who display their work at the café which takes no commission and fully supports student and other local art. Thoa wants to continue as a partner with the local community.

The company has gone from four employees and three interns from culinary school to eight team members—seven full-time and one part-time. Meet their diverse and talented team online: https://www.banhandbutter.com/meet-the-team.

The future looks bright for this French-Vietnamese, Asian-fusion bakery café. “Bánh” is a Vietnamese term that is often applied to a wide variety of breads, sweet and savory pastries and goods. Check out their delectable menu and what’s new from the creatives behind the name. Visit www.banhandbutter.com.

Pirate Chef LLC

Success Stories / By saraeknudsen

“Aurora-South Metro SBDC gave us the empowerment, guidance, and connections to realize our dream of owning our own business with sustainability.”

Ian and Vanessa Reeves believe that sharing good food is the best
way to show love. Pirate Chef specializes in bespoke catering, private parties, in home, and corporate dining. Taking experience from lives well-lived, they bring their clients a gastronomic encounter unlike any other. Their business venture has been a longstanding dream, and they can’t wait to share it with you!

Ian, also known as Pirate Chef, has been cheekily operating pop-ups under this name since 2012. He hails from Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK. His love for cooking
began at age nine helping his mother make family meals. He honed his skills at
various well known gastro pubs in the west country of England and London. After moving up and down the east coast working for the likes of Stephen Starr and the Mandarin Oriental hotel group, he landed in Denver in 2019 and was the Head Chef at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. He transitioned to crafting menus for his own business.

Vanessa has varied front-of-house experience in event management and restaurants. Her main professional background is in higher education and museums. Prior to moving to Denver, she held various roles supporting private and nonprofit organizations with process improvement, which is a great skill to add to the small business mix.

From the success of their delicious breakfast burritos, chicken pot pies and shepherd’s pie, they realized they could launch something full time, opting for a ghost kitchen with three different menus plus catering. Opening Pirate Chef in August 2021, the Reeves quickly pivoted strictly into catering and have found their footing and market. The Aurora-South Metro SBDC consultant helped them make an objective decision to make this transition by looking at the numbers and influencer features.

The SBDC also helped Pirate Chef hone their business plan. “The introductions that were made through the SBDC, including funding and market research resources, not to mention the encouragement, is incalculable. The program is our backbone when we need advice or thoughts on decisions.”

Pirate Chef received an SBA-approved loan to support their growth. They are now in the process of hiring their first part-time employee and received their first large contract. The goal is to keep growing, and while doing so, be a part of the local diverse Aurora community, donating to Project Worthmore quarterly, an immigrant/refugee charity. The sky’s the limit for 2023.

Food is life and everyone needs it. So, check out Pirate Chef, www.piratecheffood.com, enjoy some good food and live a little while you’re at it! (above photo credit: From the Hip)

Prieto’s Catering

Success Stories / By saraeknudsen

Prieto’s Catering is an Aurora-based food truck selling authentic and delicious Mexican food. Prieto’s serves a variety of tacos, including the famous birria tacos that everyone is excited about! They also serve other popular Mexican dishes made fresh, such as tamales, tortas and burritos. Fully aware that the business needs to be responsive to customer needs during the pandemic, they offer home delivery and pick up from 9AM to 3PM daily.

As a family business start-up, Prieto’s provided catering services in 2017 with sales of just $3,000 in the first year. In 2019, owner Erika Rojas bought a food truck and realized an immediate jump in sales. Working with one full-time employee and two part-time employees, Erika was determined to work hard, find new customers, increase sales and hire at least two more employees. She reflects on her experience with the SBDC:

“I have been taking SBDC classes and consulting with an Aurora-South Metro SBDC business consultant. From the beginning, I have felt supported with resources to resolve my doubts and learn how to manage the business, as well as how to promote my business. The most valuable service of the SBDC, above all, is the support of not feeling alone.” With a lot of effort and loyal customers, Erika realistically projects an increase in sales of 350% by the end of 2021. She is going full steam ahead!

There’s nothing like having steady customers for consistent cash flow. Prieto’s Catering serves breakfast burritos to a business. School parent boards, teacher training events and student events is another regular source of sales. Ten percent of Prieto’s clients are at “Movie at the Park” events. They also do private parties. “We want to expand again by finding a stable location in the city of Aurora in the coming year,” says the optimistic and hard-working owner.

Giving back to the community, Prieto’s Catering is a staple at school sporting events, purchasing the food with a special discount and serving young people in soccer between 12-17 years old—at no charge. When there is food left over, they put together dishes for itinerant people on Colfax Avenue. Some of their honors and certificates include:

• Best Food Truck 2021 from Lady Boss
• Certificates for finishing entrepreneurial classes
• Training for two years in business management at El Comal Heritage Food Incubator
• Certified in Food Handling
• The Receta food business training program certificate

The business continues to grow. Prieto’s installed a larger stove in the food truck and purchased equipment to cook in an iron and steam food cart. CEDS Finance provided Prieto’s Catering with a loan which allowed the business to purchase a vehicle to pull the food cart. Check out their menu items here and enjoy authentic Mexican food: https://prietos-catering.business.site.

Also, read the story in Spanish (en español: lee esto).

Rustic Nomads

Economic Recovery, Success Stories / By saraeknudsen

Starting a business in 2020—during the COVID-19 pandemic—has been a journey to say the least, but the owner of Rustic Nomads, Nathan Wiersum, will have bragging rights for life. “The support received from the SBDC is why I continue to move .”

With a loan from DreamSpring to purchase a food truck, the rest of the business has been self-funded. Originally, the plan was to grow into a restaurant as soon as possible. With the pandemic, goals were reevaluated. The debate was between two options, a restaurant or more food trucks.

Either way, there was no stopping or slowing down. Rustic Nomads actually grew exponentially in 2020. While not be able to report huge profits, the focus during the first year was on building relationships. Since COVID-19 spoiled the year for many, Wiersum thought it best to survive the year as opposed to pushing profits over people. Many favorite locations have booked Rustic Nomads, solidifying the business and helping to build a following. Profits from 2020 were invested in the business, helping the bottom line for 2021.

The Aurora-South Metro SBDC was pivotal in helping start the business and developing the idea of growth. From helping with the business plan to getting the funding needed to start, the SBDC helped every step of the way. Since it is a free service, Wiersum could not pass up on the tremendous return on investment and recommends the SBDC to anyone who wants to start their own business.

With one full-time and four to five part-time employees for larger events, Wiersum works with many of the breweries in the metropolitan area. These partnerships provide Rustic Nomads with a location to sell food and a following to build clientele. Regulars will sometimes come from across town, and this helps the breweries because it puts more people in their seats as well. Wiersum will plant roots when the time is right as he determines his target customer, traveling around the metropolitan area and narrowing the market.

Although not veteran-owned, Rustic Nomads stems from veterans. “Growing up as military kids and moving every few years, we have had the fortune to live on different continents and experience cuisine that we would not have otherwise known.” Rustic Nomads simply means ‘freedom to make unpretentious delicious food that everyone can enjoy anywhere.’ And they do so with genuine hospitality.

While the food scene is relatively saturated, Wiersum believes that there is room in the industry IF supplying a good product. And that’s the key. Rustic Nomads sources their products locally and emphasizes using sustainable products. Delicious food has become their trademark of excellence — from pastrami to mozzarella — and experiencing sandwiches from the Route 66 burger to the Wanderlust, with delectable sides. Visit https://rusticnomads.us/menu. (The first photo above: Nathan Wiersum (rt) with Jen Findlow who helped Rustic Nomads make their first dollar.)