With Nebraska SBDC, it’s One-on-One, Not One-and-Done
- published: 2024/05/16
- contact: NBDC Communications - Nebraska Business Development Center
- phone: 402.554.6256
- email: kjefferson@unomaha.edu
- search keywords:
- NBDC
- SBDC
- Small Business Resources
- Javi's Tacos
- Franklin's Bistro
- Nebraska Business Resources
Omaha, Nebraska – This story originally appeared in the Nebraska Business Development Center 2023 Annual Report.
Javier Trujillo Villa remembers the day in 2020 when he opened the doors to his first Javi’s Tacos in a former pizza restaurant near 180th and Q Streets. He remembers the first customer walking in – and he remembers how anxious he felt.
“I really struggled with that first batch of rice, trying to be sure it was perfect,” he recalls. “Then, one of my employees asked, ‘So, what do we put on the tacos?’ I said, ‘Whatever the customer wants.’”
His answer has proven to be a recipe for success, as only four years later, Villa is the owner of three Javi’s Tacos restaurants, three catering trucks, and his most recent additions, the Time to Rise and Shine breakfast and lunch restaurant, Frosty Mug sports bar and Helados Locos, which serves Mexican ice cream made in South Omaha. This year, he will open his upscale El Milagro (the Miracle) restaurant, boosting his total number of employees to 125.
Every step of his rapid and impressive business journey, Villa has relied upon the guidance of the Nebraska Business Development Center’s (NBDC) Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program. Tony Schultz, State Director of the Nebraska SBDC and Kiley Phelps, Omaha Center Director of Nebraska SBDC have partnered with him along the way.
“The NBDC is a lot like me,” Villa says. “They provide quality customer service. No matter what I need, they are always accurate and honest. And that honesty is very important. Opportunity may knock, but sometimes it’s not the right fit. You can have vision, but if it’s not right for you, you can lose thousands.”
The NBDC is a lot like me...They provide quality customer service. No matter what I need, they are always accurate and honest. And that honesty is very important.
The Nebraska SBDC program works with entrepreneurs and business owners statewide to help overcome the challenges of starting a new company or expanding.
Loren Kucera, an SBDC consultant at the NBDC office in Wayne, has been with the NBDC 30 years. He says in that time he has forged lasting business relationships with his clients – many who he still assists today.
“Building relationships is a big part of my job,” Kucera says.
Those relationships are rooted in Kucera’s knowledge and experience, as well as his people skills. “A good consultant needs to listen and talk, but mostly listen,” he says. “You need to listen to the client and to the people they will be dealing with. The lenders, economic development people, service providers, chamber of commerce people, government representatives – every few months we get together to exchange ideas. But mostly, we listen to each other. That’s how you learn new ways to do things.”
Two clients Kucera listened to over the years were Donna and Alan Franklin. Alan had been an assistant manager at the Omaha Country Club. The couple moved to Norfolk when Alan became general manager at the Norfolk Country Club, and they fell in love with the area. In 1997, they pursued their dream and opened Bailey’s Bistro restaurant in the Norfolk Country Inn and operated it for more than 12 years. “Alan loved to cook, and I ran the front of the restaurant,” Donna recalls.
When the lease ran out on their space in the hotel, the couple decided to open Franklin’s Bistro, and sought Kucera’s advice and guidance. “After my banker told us no, another banker hooked us up with Loren,” Donna says. “He helped us tremendously. He made it seem easy, and I know it wasn’t. We saw the paperwork.”
They opened Franklin’s in 2012 and quickly built a loyal following. Alan’s death in 2013, followed in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, were difficult times for Donna. Two years ago, she turned to Meredith “Mere” Evert, with whom she had worked at Bailey’s and Franklin’s for more than 20 years, and offered to sell the business.
Evert had taken a managerial role after Alan’s death and was very interested in buying Franklin’s. She and her husband, Chad, consulted with Kucera, whom she also had known for years, on a business plan and financial projections that resulted in the purchase of the restaurant in November 2021. “Loren is very personable and helpful,” Evert says. “His advice is honest, and that really matters.”
Phelps, who continues to work with Villa on his expanding roster of businesses, says relationships with knowledgeable SBDC consultants give owners a valuable soundboard for ideas. “We are here for the entire life of a business, from ideation to exit strategies,” she says. “I have clients who are Ph.D.s and experts in their fields, but have never taken a business class in their life. We have the business perspective they need.”
Villa says the community has been very supportive of each of his ventures. “From Omaha Food Lovers on Facebook, to resources like the NBDC, it’s been an amazing journey so far,” he says. “The key is to know how to use your connections and to listen to your customers.”
Especially when it comes to tacos, he says. And what does Villa like on his tacos? “I say a taco should have no more than three toppings,” he replies, chuckling. “And one of them has to be cilantro.”