Small pickle business benefiting from increase in SBA loans

By Jasen Lee, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Getting a new business up and running takes patience, determination and a fair amount of courage, especially if you literally have to mortgage everything you own to raise the financial capital necessary to keep it going.

In 2011, when Allison and Andrew Cesati launched Yee-Haw Pickles — a company specializing in chemical-free, gourmet pickles — they had plenty of patience and determination, but they soon found obtaining the needed funding would also require all the courage they could muster.

Before becoming first-time entrepreneurs, both had good management-level careers in the ski industry in Park City. But they became concerned about their futures as the recession struck its hardest, and they decided to make a life-altering change, hopefully for the better in the long run.

“We didn’t have a whole lot of confidence in our jobs at the time,” Allison Cesati said. “It was kind of tenuous.”

They decided to “take their destiny into their own hands.”

“We both quit our jobs the same day,” Cesati, 39, recalled. “We just went for it.”

They got into the pickle business because they couldn’t find pickles that were produced without artificial ingredients or preservatives.

“So my husband I just decided that we would make them ourselves,” explained the self-professed foodie. She noted that while she and her husband are not “over-the-top foodies,” they try to steer clear of too much sugar (in their diets) and other less healthy food choices.

In order to start the business, the couple cashed in their 401(k) retirement accounts and used that money to get started, but they didn’t anticipate all the challenges that would materialize and how much funding they really needed.

Allison Cesati said they were so optimistic about their ability to succeed in the endeavor that they may have not planned as well as they should have.

“If we would have really thought logically about it, we might not have jumped in,” she said with a laugh. “We’ve also heard from other entrepreneurs, ‘If we knew then what we know now, we might not have done it.’”

Despite the trepidation, having already made the leap, they needed a way to fund their company and keep it going. That’s when they sought help from a local bank that suggested they take out a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration, something a number of local companies have done increasingly this year.

The agency provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses with its mission “to maintain and strengthen the nation’s economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses and by assisting in the economic recovery of communities after disasters.” The agency accomplishes those goals through capital, contracts and counseling.

SBA loans are made through banks, credit unions and other lending partners. The agency provides a government-backed guarantee on a portion of the loan.

The number of approved SBA 7(a) loans — the most common type of financing offered by the SBA — increased 13 percent in the administration’s Utah district during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The 7(a) program offers up to 25-year, fully amortized loans that can be used for most business purposes, including the purchase of real estate for business operations, acquisition of equipment and working capital, said SBA lender relations specialist Ted Elliott.

The agency’s Utah district office fields hundreds of loan requests through local lenders annually, he aid, for loan amounts up to $5 million. Last year, the Utah district office approved 1,183 loans for more than $400 million — an all-time high amount for the state, Elliott said.

Those funds have helped create thousands of jobs and help bolster the local economy, he added.

On average, small businesses employ 500 or fewer workers, though that number can be higher, he noted. With more than half of the nation’s workforce employed at a small business, they are the life-blood of the state and national economy, he said.

“We want (small businesses) to be successful because then they are hiring people and paying wages, paying taxes, and it comes back to us,” he said. “It’s the circle of (economic) life.”

The agency also provides support to its counseling partners, including SCORE — a nationwide volunteer mentor corps of retired and experienced business leaders, approximately 900 small business development centers typically located on college campuses, along with more than 100 women’s business centers around the country.

Elliott said that the agency will fund every aspect of a business entity except for profit, in an effort to help sustain their operation.

“We will help them make their payroll, their marketing, purchasing equipment, (as well as) their receivables and payables,” he said. “We’re very flexible with what we will help them with.”

For North Ogden business owner Philip Child, being able to access the resources of the SBA through his lender Zions Bank enabled him to launch a new entrepreneurial venture after spending 38 years as the owner of a grocery/hardware store.

Child, 54, sold his first business in May, then dove right into a new endeavor. This time, he is opening the first of what he hopes to eventually become two stand-alone Ace Hardware stores.

The initial location will be in a building he is leasing that is currently being renovated and is scheduled to open in January. When it’s up and running, the store will create 11 new jobs with the SBA loan he received.

“(Now) with the help of the SBA, I have the potential for opening two stores instead of one,” Child said. “I probably couldn’t have done it without them.”

He also said that having the assistance of SBA and his bank has helped him realize his dream of entrepreneurship.

Similarly, Allison Cesati said she is grateful for the education and funding provided by the agency. Today, her company has signed significant commercial deals with Whole Foods Market and Associated Foods to sell their products in stores across the country, along with several smaller local retail agreements.

She added that while there have been highs and lows during the more than four years they have been in the pickle business, the peaks have been greater than the valleys. At this point, they are “all-in” for the long haul, she said.

“There are definitely challenges and struggles,” Cesati said. “But as our business is more able to sustain itself, it’s becoming more and more fun.”