 Welcome to Adventures in Small Business, a collaboration between the U.S. Small Business Administration, Hawaii District Office, the Hawaii Small Business Development Center, the Ming Center for Business and Leadership, and the Veterans Business Outreach Center of the Pacific to showcase the local stories of entrepreneurs and small businesses. My name is Victoria, I'm a business advisor at the VBoc of the Pacific, and today I will be talking to great entrepreneurs, John and Jent, who are opening a restaurant here in Hawaii. Welcome to our show. Thank you for having us. Thank you for being here. Thank you for coming to share your wonderful story. So can you please introduce yourself briefly and tell us a little bit more about your background? Okay, my name is, let me go first. Sure. Okay. I'm an eight-year Army veteran, medically retired. I currently work for the federal government as an equipment specialist, a logistician, that's what I do. I heard about two bronze stars. Can you please tell me more about it? Well, I've been, throughout my eight years of service, I was deployed four times, and I was honored, and I am honored to have received two bronze stars, yes. Can you tell me what does it mean, getting a bronze star from people who don't know? Well, I was given both bronze stars deployed, and it's basically for service, and the mission that was accomplished during my deployments. Very impressive. Thank you for your service. Thank you. And Jent? Hello. Thank you for having me. So my background is I have over 16 years of business management experience. I'm a University of Phoenix graduate. I have, I'm actually in my doctoral program, so I've learned a lot of businesses through private sector, and also was a contractor at one point servicing the Army redeployment and deployment missions, and I currently work for a global organization as well. I help elderly candidates to live longer, and right now I'm just looking forward to opening this restaurant with John. Wow, that's a very impressive background. It seems like you're wearing a lot of hats right now. Yes. That's great. So John, how do you think, how military experience helped you in business planning process and running a business? My military experience, a lot of the skills that I think pertain to opening a business or a restaurant would be critical thinking, the ability to think on your feet and on the go and to handle stress, and adapting to different situations. In the military, we're deployed or we're in a fast-paced environment, and it's the same in a restaurant industry. So the ability to combine what I've learned and the skills that I learned to put it into a business, that's what really helped me. In military, you probably always have to have a plan, and you know that that plan can change many times, right? Yes. So the same in entrepreneurship, right? Yes. Jen can speak on it too, but we've gone through multiple locations in Kapolei. We had to revise our business plans multiple times based on the location. So we do have a plan, but when the plan does change, we do have to adapt as a team together, and we're together to accomplish what we need to accomplish. And you have to stay calm. And you have to stay calm in the process, yes. That's important. Have faith and just believe in each other pretty much. Yes. Nice. So yeah, I truly believe military experience helped you guys, right? Yes, for sure. What about you, Jen? For the military, although I wasn't in the military, I worked for the Army as a contractor. The fast-paced business, you know, as far as the mission, you know, there's a mission to be accomplished and to see the soldiers just having to be focused and keeping them focused and accomplishing their mission and being that leader, I think that's helped with helping, developing this, organizing this company. And so just the, so many moving parts, in other words, in the military, I'm sure, as John knows, and you have to be flexible and agile at the same time. And so having those characteristics as an individual, opening a business, you have to be flexible and agile. So yeah, it's helped. For sure. And then you also have an impressive education, too. So I'm sure that helped. Oh, absolutely. I have to give credit to University of Phoenix. The education that I've received from them, they've helped me along the way. And also, if you don't mind, John is also a University of Phoenix MBA grad. Yes. I am. This has been my mentor through my undergraduate and my graduate program. Yes. So I've known Jen since Guam, back in Guam, when I was graduating high school. Nice. Yes. So I think, in combination, our education has really helped us put our skills into practice in developing BIVA, Craft Hawaii, just the whole business plan, the researching and development process, it's become an integral part of the process. So business plan was not easy at all. If I may go into that, that's challenging because you have to really research the industry that you're going into. Food and beverages is one of the most challenging, I would like to say, industries to go into. You've got to look at your competitive market and look at your position and where you're opening. And being in Kapolei is the growing city of Oahu, and it's been challenging. Even there's a lot more challenges to come, but being supportive and flexible, I think has helped. And the V-Bog too. Yes. Oh, I have to give, yes. Headed to the V-Bog. Oh, yes. Absolutely. You guys have been there since day one and stuck with us throughout the vision and the challenges and just the services that you render has been such a huge part in the process. I don't know how we could have done it without you guys. Dennis and his team walked us through step by step from day one. And he made us do the work. He made us understand the ins and outs of the business proposal and what we need to have and what we need to ensure that we have in our business proposal to be successful. Well, I'm glad we were able to help you guys. It's really rewarding working with entrepreneurs like you, really driven and motivated entrepreneurs. So for those who don't know what V-Bog is, V-Bog is the Veterans Business Outreach Center and you can sign up for our services. We do one-on-one business consultation as well as Boots to Business Entrepreneurship course. Have you participated in the Entrepreneurship course? Well, I did inquire about the Boots to Business. It's just you have to go through a long two weeks course and I just don't have that time to dedicate to that. Working with the V-Bog Center and with Dennis and his team, it opened our eyes a lot too in what we need to do. And Jen could also speak on it, but one of the banks that we went forward with with Getting Our Loans, they use our business proposal as a model to other clients and to other lenders of what a good business proposal startup business plan is supposed to look like. Wow. Yeah. Well, thank you for working with us, it's a pleasure. So Boots to Business is a two-day entrepreneurship course for people who are just starting a business. But yeah, of course for you, probably a follow-up course of six weeks, Mississippi State University would be the best. But of course, one-on-one consultations are always great because you can actually work on your own unique case with consultants. So yeah, we're looking forward to continue our work together. Absolutely. So can you tell me a little bit about your motivation to start a restaurant business? And I heard that you had a lot of different ideas and food and beverage business, as you mentioned, is probably one of the riskiest. And especially in Hawaii, it's really tricky to start a food and beverage business. So how did you decide to go for it? Our motivation is people and our culture. So Guam is our culture. We like to share meals, we like to gather. And the way both Jen and I and our other business partners, CJ, the way we like to see people happy is through food and beverage and through expressing our culture through food and beverage and gathering and sharing the aloha spirit because in Guam it's the same way. So everything's very family-oriented. Nice. Yes. And to add to that, we want to bring the taste of Guam to Hawaii. As of now, as we know, there is no restaurant in Hawaii that serves Chamorro food. So we look forward to bringing that exotic taste to Hawaii. And much like Hawaii, Guam is very ohana-oriented and being that we can bring our culture to Hawaii and we know there's a lot of different ethnic groups here in Hawaii, Hawaii's a melting pot. So to be able to add to that, to the industry and bringing Chamorro food into the market, I think is the motivation to deliver that, to give something to the community that they haven't had or they don't have at the moment. So if you ask anybody who's tried Chamorro food, I'm sure they're going to be like, oh, I love it. So it's something that is a huge treat to the community. So we look forward to sharing that. So that's part of the motivation is to keep our culture alive in such a way of all ohana environment. I'm really excited to try your food. Yes, we can't wait. So what about other business ideas? You guys had multiple options, ideas? Well, as soon as I graduated with my, as soon as I completed my MBA program, I would think of multiple businesses. Like I said, I've known Jen for years, and I would see Jen at functions or at gatherings or whatnot. And I would ask her, Jen, what do you think about this idea? What do you think about a brewery? Could you help me write my business proposal? Or I wanted to do a juice bar and a juice bar by day, bar by night, and I was going to call it gin and juice, right? And I was asking Jen and Jen was like, yeah, you know, just let me know. And every time I would ask her, she'd tell me, you know, I'd be in for as a, you know, tomorrow-inspired restaurant. And months would go by, we'd have multiple gatherings, and I would notice people from different cultures that aren't even from Guam would come to our parties, and they would always mention, man, this would be great in a restaurant or bar concept or whatnot. And working at Pine and Jigger for a while now, and I would see different service members would come through. And a lot of them had been stationed in Guam and recognized that I am from Guam. So they would, you know, always mention that. And one day I just contacted Jen, I said, hey, let's do this, you know, this is a great idea. It's a great way to get our culture out there and get Guam out there and bring something new to Hawaii that Hawaii's never seen before. You know, there are food trucks on Hawaii that have Guam food, but nobody's doing it in a, in the environment that we're going to provide. Okay. Can you please tell me more about your environment, your concept of Biba? I know it's going to be Guam food, it's going to be a lot of beer options. How's it going to look? Well, it's basically a family focus or family environment with a gastropub type feel. So yes, more high-end cocktails, more high-end beers. But the focus is really being able to bring your family and friends and, you know, having a good time and gathering and sharing meals with each other. That's pretty much what the concept is. It's going to be very family-oriented. Right? Yes. And to add to that, we look forward to supporting local breweries, local artists, and hopefully we'll be able to facilitate acoustic, you know, bands and whatnot and just be able to have a place on the west side of Oahu that they can come to and have a time, a good time. The experience is important. So the concept is for them to come in and join some cocktails and good food and just relax and have a good time. Because I think a lot of these type of restaurants slash gastropubs are central or rather in Honolulu, Waikiki. So we want to bring that to the second city of Oahu. And that's the goal is to deliver that to the community. Yes, for sure. That sounds great. Can't wait for this. Yes, yes. So we are going on the short break and we will be back shortly. My name is Stephanie Mock and I'm one of three hosts of Think Tech Hawaii's Hawaii Food and Farmer series. Our other hosts are Matt Johnson and Pomei Weigert and we talk to those who are in the fields and behind the scenes of our local food system. We talk to farmers, chefs, restaurateurs, and more to learn more about what goes into sustainable agriculture here in Hawaii. We are on a Thursdays at 4 p.m. and we hope we'll see you next time. Hi everyone. I'm Andrea Gabrieli. The host for Young Talent's Making Way here on Think Tech Hawaii. We talk every Tuesday at 11 a.m. about things that matter to tech, matter to science, to the people of Hawaii with some extraordinary guests, the students of our schools who are participating in science fair. So Young Talent's Making Way every Tuesday at 11 a.m. only on Think Tech Hawaii. Mahalo. Back to Adventures in Small Business. Today we are talking to John and Jen, small business owners who are opening a restaurant here in Hawaii. So if we continue our discussion, what were the biggest challenges when planning a business and planning a restaurant business, which is one of the hardest ventures to do? Yeah, sure. So the business planning is very specific and challenging in itself. So you have to have a good business plan. And to have a good business plan, you have to have a vision, also do your research in the industry that you are going into, and then also the financing part. So those, I think, three factors are challenging because positioning ourself in a growing city could be challenging because property. That was one of our challenges is finding a perfect property for us because when you open, it's not just about your company but also where you're positioned. So that was challenging. I mean, that, I think, took the longest. But not only that is the financing part. Banks look at our business plan and believing in our vision, believing in our concept and receiving that as we receive it. So your business plan tells a story. It should tell a story. And with it being telling a story, when the banks look at it, they have to feel something like, OK, yeah, I think this is good. Or I'm not sure, it's too risky. So when you are developing a business plan, what is your budget? What is your budget for this organization? With a restaurant, it can be quite expensive. And it is expensive. So having the proper research to check and balance the items that you're financing is important. So not only that is you, as an individual, have to have money, too. You can't go to the bank and say, OK, give me all the money I need to open a restaurant or whatever you're inspired to open, you have to also have your finances in order. So if you want to talk a little bit more about the financing part. Basically, it's both financing and finding a location. One of the real major struggles that we went through is finding a location. The landlord wants money or funding, and the banks want a location. So sometimes the landlords don't wait on your view getting approved for a business loan or whatnot. But it's finding the support from a good realtor, an architect, to have everything aligned where it comes both at the same time. So they don't tell you that when you do your business planning or go out for a loan. But like Jen said, location is very important. And on the west side, there isn't many available locations out there. And so you've got to find a team that believes in the same people that believe in your vision as well. And time it perfectly. That's all about timing. Yes. And we're so happy that Vibhach helped us find the bank that financed us. Yes. So we appreciate that. So everybody in your team should see the vision and believe in the vision. And that's the challenging part. Because we had to go through a couple of realtors, I believe, to find the one who was going to stick with us. And multiple banks. And multiple banks. You know, we did go through. And if you're really truly inspired by your vision, you will stick to it. You won't throw in the towel. And there have been challenges where we were just like, okay, I don't know, let's just throw in the towel, but we stuck to it and we're going to see the fruits of our labor and it's going to come to fruition. We always sell each other. We just need one yes. We just need that one yes and then we could go out there and show the world what we have to offer. Or what we have to offer. The world. So yeah, I think what's most important is actually having that vision, as you mentioned, and having a passion. Because if you don't have passion, you're probably going to stop working on that venture sooner or later, because it requires a lot of work, a lot of effort, a lot of patience. So when writing a business plan, you were very good with marketing and sales and describing your concept. Very creative. But what about financial part? What was the most difficult area? The research, I think, for the appliances. How much the food is going to cost us. The food and beverages. So you, VBOT, helped us. The team helped us with our projections, our 36-month projections. That had to be spot on. And it had to reflect what we were going to be serving. We did our own weights and measurements of the food that we're going to be serving, the cocktails. Right? And John did a lot of research on the appliances. So that really helped with learning how much we need to be able to finance. In addition, I mean, even to the how much the power is going to cost to the square footage. So that is, and like I said, VBOT really helped us with the projections and putting it all together. Yeah. So, but the meat of it, you have to do your research and to learn what you need to get financed. And, of course, I mean, to add to that, you have to have good credit. And I think one of the requirements to put 20% down on the amount that you're borrowing, and we had to work around our budget. And we had the budget based off of what we can afford tomorrow. Right. And I think one of the benefits is the veterans' own small business advantage, the wave of the fee, if you want to speak on that. Yeah. So it's basically, with the veterans' program, the SVA loan, it waves a lot of fees, kind of like it's compared to a VA home loan, where there are fees that we don't have to pay because of my veteran status. So that was very helpful, too. It saved us thousands of dollars. And you also took advantage of the small business administration guaranteed loan, right? Yes. Correct. So can you tell us a little bit more about SVA guarantee loan for people who don't know? Yeah. So what it does is it guarantees the bank loaner how much, a percentage of that loan being guaranteed that they're going to get their monies back. And I think it's about 75% of their loan that I could be wrong. It varies. Yeah, it varies. Yeah, it does vary depending on how much you're barring. Yes. It just guarantees the bank that if we default on any, for any reason, that the banks will get their money, a portion of their money back. Yeah. And just a lot of people have an assumption that SVA is giving people money, but actually they just guarantee your loan. Which is a great help, too, because startup and a restaurant startup, it's a very risky business, and a lot of bankers, they really hesitate to jump in. Yes. And we know that firsthand. So SVA loan is a great way to open the restaurant. Yes, for sure. Yes. Great. So you were talking a lot about creating a great team. So besides business consultant, what else would you say a business owner should have in their team? Well, family, one. I was fortunate that Jen was my mentor for so many years through my undergraduate and graduate program. My work a lot with the USBG Hawaii, the United States Bar Tenders Guild, the Oahu chapter. And they've helped me a lot with understanding how the bar business or the food and beverage industry works. I work closely with Dave Newman, who's a really good friend of mine. He's the owner of Pine and Jigger, or one of the owners of Pine and Jigger. And he allowed me to work with him and his staff at his establishment so I could learn the ins and outs of the food and beverage industry. Like Jen said, weighing out the food or understanding how to break down cocktails by the scent or food, I learned a lot from them. So you just got to find people that have the similar motivation and interest that you have and are not selfish but want to see other people succeed. And that's pretty much what we are about and what we want to do. So eventually we could help other restaurant owners or entrepreneurs. Maybe you can be one of our mentors at Reebok. Absolutely. We'd love to, yeah. So what about accountant or a business lawyer? Did you have to work with these people? Yes, we did. We filed our taxes quarterly, I believe. Yeah. But we do have an accountant. So yes, we do have professional CPAs, lawyers. We did have them look at our, at one point we were considering investors. So we also talked about how we can approach that. Or also our business plan and our operating agreement, that's important too amongst partners. Although we're family, we know each other, but it's also important to protect yourself as an individual and your family. So an operating agreement helps with that. And a lawyer, our lawyer looked at the operating agreement to ensure that we are all covered in protecting ourselves as individuals. So that way our families are not impacted in such a way. But yeah, so lawyers, we also have, so marketing, you know, I think we have a lot of experience in education between the three of us. Also CJ, he's not, he couldn't be here. So we, like marketing and all those type of things we do on our own at the moment, but we know in the future we're going to need those professionals to help us keep our brand alive and to promote our organization or our business throughout Hawaii and because we look forward to growing after this location is successful. Yeah, and with that being said, the VBoc, whenever we were stumped on something like, hey, we called Dennis and, you know, we asked him if he could refer us to somebody. So it's all about networking. Yes, absolutely. So what would you say to a person who is looking to open an restaurant here in Hawaii? What three simple tips would you give them to summarize? Well, I could do one. Believe in yourself and believe in your vision. If you don't believe in it and you're not all in 100 percent, then it's probably not going to work out for you. So it's a marathon. It's not a sprint. So that's what I've learned and working with the VBoc and my business partners. So vision and believing in yourself. Yeah, I think that's a great tip. Definitely. And business planning, right? Oh, yes, absolutely. Business planning, doing a research and sticking to the vision. Because at one time we were diverging out of the vision. So just sticking to the vision and definitely having the support around you. Perfect. VBoc being one of the main ones. Thank you very much, guys. So where can we find you and when are you guys opening? So we anticipate opening in December. And also you can find us in Kapolei, Hawaii. Yes. And we are on Instagram and LinkedIn. You can find us at Biba Craft Hawaii on Instagram. Yes. And on LinkedIn, Biba Craft Hawaii. And look for us in December. We should be opening around then. Thank you so much, guys. It was pleasure talking to you today. Stay tuned for more adventures in small business every Thursday at 11 o'clock. Thank you for watching us.