The Restaurant Small Business Management Program is entirely new for the 2023-24 year. It features Oregon experts with deep roots in the restaurant industry. The program has been engineered from the ground up to deliver relevant, robust content specifically to Lincoln County, Clatsop County, and the Columbia Gorge restaurateurs. Nine powerful workshops, plus monthly one-on-one advising sessions — all geared to make your operation as successful as possible, and to make your work more enjoyable and rewarding. 

The program  includes expert speakers from across the country as well as locally covering all topics of restaurant ownership and management. Adding to that, you will be part of a strong local cohort that will allow for peer sharing and learning while working directly on your business development. 

October 9, 2023, SESSION 1:  Attracting & Managing Employees  

INSTRUCTOR: Lisa Schroeder, Executive Chef & Owner, Mother’s Bistro & Bar, Portland

Mother’s Bistro owner awarded Oregon Small Business Person of the Year

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has named Lisa Schroeder, owner and executive chef of downtown restaurant Mother’s Bistro & Bar, Oregon Small Business Person of the Year for 2023. The accolade was a part of National Small Business Week, which runs from April 30 through May 6. Schroeder received a loan from the SBA to open Mother’s Bistro in 2000, KGW’s Luisa Anderson reports. The restaurant also received funding from SBA’s COVID relief programs, which helped it stay in business. On May 1, Schroeder and other award recipients went to the White House and met President Biden and Vice President Harris. Mayor Wheeler presented the award to Schroeder at her restaurant on Wednesday.

Lisa Schroeder

Owner of Mother’s Bistro in Portland named ‘Small Business Person of the Year’

November 13, 2023, SESSION 2: Bookkeeping and Financial Statements: their vital role in reaching and sustaining profitability.

INSTRUCTOR: Josiah Dean, SBDC Advisor, and owner of Balch Hotel & Restaurant, Dufur

December 11, 2023, SESSION 3:  Managing Your Money for Sustainable Profits   

INSTRUCTOR:   Kurt Huffman, Managing Partner, ChefStable, a “partnership” that includes Lardos, St. Jacks, Oven & Shaker, Dos Hermanos, Ox, Whey Bar, XLB, Coopers Hall, Grassa, Blutos, and La Moule. Oregon & California

Kurt Huffman got his first taste of the restaurant industry as a 10-year-old in a school cooking class in New Zealand. Four years later, he was working as a dishwasher and grill cook at Fat City Café in Multnomah Village. He went on to study at UC Berkeley, but at 25 he found himself in Scotland, balancing rugby and a good amount of beer drinking while pursuing a master’s degree in law from the University of Glasgow. He had beer in mind when a French friend asked him to collaborate on a business in Lyon, France. They settled on a brewery, “because it’s such an obvious thing to do at 25,” which turned into a gastropub called Ninkasi. By the time Kurt left France, there were five locations.

He returned to his hometown of Portland and founded ChefStable in 2008. It began with Chef Andy Ricker who had just started Pok Pok in 2006 and was looking to open another restaurant. Huffman and Ricker teamed up and opened Ping. After that, recommendations for partnerships kept coming in and Kurt built his team to be able to design, build, and operate restaurants. Since 2008, Kurt and his team at ChefStable have opened more than 40 restaurants and he personally has taken more trips to Portland Nursery than anyone could count. He is a firm believer in the power of partnering with the right people and can’t shake the feeling that every space should have more plants.

January 8, 2024, SESSION 4:  Branding & Marketing Your Restaurant

INSTRUCTOR: Chef Tselani Richmond, SYSCO. 

After 12 years in marketing and sales, Tse shed her corporate responsibilities and headed to France. There she studied both cuisine and pastry at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, finishing first in both disciplines. After graduation, she turned her sights on Parisian kitchens, completing a grueling internship at Le Restaurant Guy Savoy, a three Michelin-star restaurant. She then studied pastry at the internationally famous Pierre Hermé making macarons, cakes, and composed desserts.

When she returned to the US, Tse was a regular guest KATU Channel 2’s AM Northwest cooking seasonal ingredients with the hosts. Tse also became the Healthy Cooking Ambassador for Regence BlueCross BlueShield teaching cooking classes, filming videos, doing demos and creating recipes. In January 2013, she became part of the faculty at The Art Institute of Portland’s International Culinary Program, and in February 2015, she joined Le Cordon Bleu Portland as a full time chef instructor. Two years ago, she became a chef instructor at Oregon Culinary Institute and is the first chef to have taught at all three Portland culinary schools. She is now a Culinary Consultant for Sysco’s Portland location and loves her job! For inspiration and ideas, follower her on Instagram at Chef.Tse.

February 12, 2024, SESSION 5:  Revising Menus to Attract Customers (tourists & locals) & Controlling Food Costs through High & Low Seasons

INSTRUCTOR:  Cory Schreiber, Consulting Chef at Sysco, author, and founder of Wildwood Developing & Testing Recipes for Consistency, Profitability and Customer Satisfaction

Cory Schreiber, an Oregon native, raised in a family seafood restaurant, started Wildwood Restaurant in 1994. “He won the James Beard Award in 1998 for Best Chef Pacific Northwest and Wildwood was inducted into the Nation’s Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame in Chicago in 2003”. Cory closed the restaurant in 2014.

Cory is the author of two cookbooks: Wildwood: Cooking from the Source in the Pacific Northwest (Ten Speed Press, 2000) and Rustic Fruit Desserts (Ten Speed Press, 2009, co-authored by Julie Richardson).

“Currently, Cory is a chef consultant for Sysco, the nation’s largest foodservice marketer and distributor. Whether cooking in the kitchen or meeting up with producers in the field, Cory is excited to have the opportunity to affect change by working for a company committed to conducting their business sustainably, especially in the areas of food, co-operations and community.”https://kimberleywinevinegars.com/chef/cory-schreiber/

http://rightatthefork.com/shows/2021/4/22/r260-cory-schreiber-culinary-specialist-at-sysco  

March 11, 2024 SESSION 6: Bar Management & Remarkable Customer Service

INSTRUCTOR:  Ken Henson, Consultant, former Executive Chef, Pelican Brewery

Ken Henson graduated from culinary school, completing his ACF apprenticeship with Chef Hartmut Hanke in 1992 in Columbus OH.

After working in restaurants in New York, Las Vegas, Seattle, Denver, Southern California, and Northern California’s wine country, Henson decided to settle in to raise his family on the beautiful Oregon Coast.  Having earned a reputation as a restaurant and business “fixer”, there are few challenges he has not overcome in his 30+ year career.  Having worked every position from dishwasher, host, and Chef to Purchasing director, Director of Operations, and Owner, he has dealt with every issue from failing profitability and culture, to supply chain management issues that keep restaurants and hotels from going from “good” to “great”. 

After witnessing over a hundred thousand restaurants go out of business in the beginning year of the pandemic, Henson decided the time was right to help small businesses learn the things no one teaches you in business school…how to thrive under adversity.

April 8, 2024   SESSION  7: Value Enhancement, Financing and Exit Strategies

INSTRUCTORS: Arnie Hendricks (Financial Management Resources) and Fletcher Conn (Oregon SBDC Network Capital Access Team)

Arnie Hendricks of Financial Management Resources has been coaching and advising business owners as a part time CFO for 32 years and has served over 450 companies. Prior to establishing his consulting practice, he had 2 five year stints as a CFO for $30M to $50M manufacturing companies. Over the last 7 years, Arnie has focused on assisting business owners transition their ownership, using his CFO consulting experience to bring an aspect of helping them build value prior to a transaction – and then identify the right path to reach their objectives in maximizing value and preserving their legacy.

Arnie is certified as a Management Accountant, Family Business Coach, Exit Planning Advisor and Mergers and Acquisition Advisor. These credentials enhance his practical finance and operations experience to help a business owner through their once in a lifetime process. Arnie enjoys working closely with other professional advisors, realizing a team approach is in the best interest of the business owner.

When time permits, Arnie enjoys skiing, mountain climbing, golfing and bicycle riding – and anything else to get him outdoors! His wife, four kids and spouses and 11 grand kids help take care of any other spare time.

May 13, 2024   SESSION  8: Essential Digital Marketing — Website, Emails, & Social Media

INSTRUCTOR:  Jen McFarland, Jen McFarland Consulting

June 10, 2024   SESSION 9: Local Sourcing & Sustainability

INSTRUCTOR: Laura Anderson, founder of Local Ocean Seafoods 

In 2002 Laura founded Local Ocean Seafoods, a sustainability-focused seafood restaurant and fish market in Newport, Oregon.  After 20 years of tremendous growth and continuous change, she sold the company into employee ownership, as an Oregon Stewardship Trust.  In 2022, she launched the Yaquina Lab, a food hub that provides shared space and equipment for small fishing and ocean-minded businesses.  She also started the Central Coast Food Web, a nonprofit with the purpose of improving access to local foods, capturing and retaining seafood economic value, increasing ocean literacy and supporting climate friendly food solutions.

She has lived and worked in coastal communities her whole life, from her Washington commercial fishing family roots to her service as a Peace Corps volunteer in The Philippines.  While earning a master’s degree in Marine Resource Management (Oregon State University 2000), she fished summers for King salmon and Dungeness crab on the family boat.  She has been actively engaged in fisheries science and policy throughout Oregon and the region. She is the board chair of the Oregon Ocean Science Trust, a trustee for the Oregon chapter of The Nature Conservancy, a board member of the Oregon Coast Aquarium and has served on the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife commission (2010-2016).  When beach life becomes too damp and mossy, she and her husband like to escape to the deep desert reaches of Joshua Tree and the Wild West.

July 8, 2024 SESSION 10: Graduation/Celebration, TBD