Karen Rasmussen and her husband, Manny Peña, have been long-term owners of Taco Trio, a Mexican Restaurant in South Portland. The quality of their food and service have become a benchmark in the community and an ongoing reason for their continued growth. When they outgrew their first location, a perfect opportunity presented itself – as a much larger space just down the street, that would fit both their needs and the needs of their customers, plus some.
Unfortunately, the expansion was an expensive proposition, further complicated by the mixed-use nature of the new space. Karen worked closely with Maine SBDC at CEI Business Advisors Raynor large to develop financial projections for the new space and understand a complicated debt & equity structure with many moving parts. These projections were critical to the lenders’ loan approval decisions and helped Karen and Manny understand what they could reasonably afford through different financing structures. Ultimately, Karen overcame the obstacles that arose in the process and not only launched a brand-new restaurant space, but a boutique inn!
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