Smoke / Southside Cafe

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.

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