Success Stories
Smoke / Southside Cafe
Smoke offers 16-hours-per-year of employee training and reimburses employees for the cost of obtaining career-related credentials.
Often referred to as Smoke, they joined PCV’s lending program last year. Smoke is in the restaurant industry; they started as a catering service and recently opened a café in Napa, California, called Southside Café. Through PCV’s BusinessAdvising.org, Smoke was matched with Brooke Bailey, CFA and Consulting Director of Valuation Services at Burr, Pilger & Mayer. The combination of capital and advising is yielding results both for Smoke and their employees.
Smoke is a woman- and Latina-owned business that provides its employees a living wage, career-building opportunities, and wealth-building opportunities. In terms of helping employees advance their careers, not only does Smoke offer 16-hours-per-year of employee training and reimburses employees for the cost of obtaining career-related credentials, but they also hire internally, allowing employees to grow their career.
In 2016, Smoke grew their revenue 58% from the year before. They also created these quality jobs while growing from 5 employees in 2015 to 17 employees at the end of 2016. Based on these results, Smoke received a second loan from PCV in 2017, and we’re excited to be a part of their continued growth and quality job creation.
Could your small business benefit from free advice or a fair and affordable loan? PCV can help. Learn more about our advising program or our loan program.