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Success stories

Beck's Bakery, Arcata

BACKGROUND
Beck’s Bakery is a wholesale bread bakery located in Arcata, California. They use locally grown grains in their breads and crackers and grind them fresh in house with a stone mill!

Natural Decadence, Humboldt County

BACKGROUND
Natural Decadence has created a delicious line of baked goods that are made without gluten, eggs, dairy, or nuts. Some of their products are also made without soy, or corn, because they understand the need for naturally decadent foods that are made without these ingredients.

Rest assured, they research all of their ingredients to ensure that they are processed in a gluten-free facility, so even moms of children with celiac disease can serve their products with confidence!  They produce everything in small batches, ensuring the highest quality artisan baked goods! Everything is made from scratch with the highest quality ingredients that are always organic when possible.

Sheri DeBow, Napa

BACKGROUND
Sheri DeBow is a sculptor, painter and doll artist, living in the Napa Valley with her husband and five children. Her work is inspired by dreams, books, love for history and general life experiences, good and bad, she explained.

Sheri studied painting and drawing and took sculpture courses at Napa Valley College with Carolyn Broadwell and under the "Mad Scientist" of clay, Micheal Maday. She also attended life-changing workshops under Richard Carter at his professional studio in Napa Valley.

Wine Compliance Alliance, Napa

BACKGROUND
Ann started her career in 1989 in a tasting room. Then she moved into the winery lab at Beringer Vineyards, and eventually managed the lab for Sterling Vineyards. She also did some cellar work before focusing on compliance and tracking.  Along the way, she developed winemaking record systems for Sterling Vineyards, Viansa Winery, Caymus Vineyards and Conundrum Winery.

Ann worked for six years as Winemaking Records Coordinator for Caymus Vineyards, and she soon realized the value of her skills to understand the complex regulations for winemaking compliance. She spotted a crucial need in the wine industry and filled it.

She applied her penchant for details and even wrote a book on wine label compliance. Plus she has strategically established herself as an expert consultant in winery compliance. 

Railroad Cleaners, Pittsburg

BACKGROUND
Railroad Cleaners started their business in September 2009 with little knowledge of the dry cleaning and laundry industry. They began serving individuals and commercial clients offering free pick-up and delivery service utilizing two, limited part-time employees.

Several months after the business started, Tom and Svonne came to the Contra Costa SBDC through a referral from the Contra Costa County Workforce Development Board.  They had invested $35,000 from their 401K and signed a lease for a 2,000 sq.ft. facility. Both Tom and Svonne had college educations and felt confident that there was need for their business but wanted specifics of how to grow and to learn business management techniques.

Bantam, Santa Cruz

BACKGROUND
Co-owners Ben and Sarah Sims worked together at Santa Cruz’s hugely popular Ristorante Avanti, where Ben was the chef for 7 years. He previously worked under the famous culinary luminary Alice Waters at Berkeley’s famed Chez Panisse. They decided they were ready to open their own restaurant, and approached the Central Coast SBDC in 2010 to begin business planning. SBDC Advisor Keith Holtaway began working with them to develop their business plan, find a location, and determine financing needs.

Ferguson Safety Products, Santa Cruz

BACKGROUND
Ferguson Safety Products opened for business in Santa Cruz in 1989 after Lonna Speer, a public health nurse at the local jail, was supplied with woefully inadequate bulky coverings to clothe suicidal inmates. Mrs. Speer resolved to make a special garment to solve this problem and became the first anti-suicide smock manufacturer.  Her design and product line continually improved, and her family joined her in the business, supplying her products to more than 1,000 prisons and jails.

Accurate C&S Services, Oakland

BACKGROUND
Accurate C&S Services is a nationwide drug and alcohol testing Consortium/Third Party Administration (C/TPA). We manage drug and alcohol testing programs for companies and employers nationwide. Our commitment at Accurate is to provide drug and alcohol testing services and assistance to keep companies compliant at the local, state and federal levels while providing ease of use customizable web-based systems for program management.

Niles Pie Company, Union City

BACKGROUND
The Niles Pie Company is based in Fremont, CA, and makes pie and pastry for our community using the best possible ingredients, local and seasonal, and, wherever possible, organic. Our baked goods reflect the delight we find in the bounty of the San Francisco Bay Area, and in the joy we experience in crafting wholesome and delicious baked goods for our friends and neighbors.

We take orders on line for pickup twice a week at a few locations, as well as several restaurant and wholesale accounts. Our selections change constantly, and our rotating menu keeps things interesting for our loyal customer base.

Hopland Ale House, Hopland

BACKGROUND 
Hopland Ale House is located in the former Hopland Brewery off Highway 101 in Hopland. Jennifer Sullivan fell in love with the Hopland area and moved to Hopland from San Jose in April of 2012. She renovated the space and opened the Hopland Ale House for business in December of 2012. The Ale House serves beer, wine, sandwiches, chili, and a variety of other high-quality entrees and offers live music, televised sports, and other events to entertain patrons. Jennifer has had great reviews of her food, drink, and service since opening and showed a profit in her first month.