What inspired you to enter a business contest, specifically one sponsored by your local library?

I was inspired to enter a business contest primarily because of the timing involved. My partner, George Constantinou, and I had just completed a 16 week business course in the summer of 2003 titled, "How To Start Your Own Business" run by Workshop In Business Opportunities ("WIBO"), a non-for-profit organization whose mission it is to enable small business owners and budding entrepreneurs from underserved communities to obtain financial success by starting, operating, and building successful businesses that develop economic power, provide jobs and improve communities.

Successful completion of the program involves completing a business plan around one's business idea. We entered the program and 16 weeks later, graduated with a rough draft of our business plan in hand. At the time, I lived 1 block away from my local business library and upon graduating from WIBO, paid a visit to the library. Upon arrival to the library, we witnessed 2 employees hanging a banner promoting the Brooklyn Business Library's 1st PowerUP! Business Plan Competition. We looked at each other and knew immediately that we had to enter the contest. What better contest was there to enter than one sponsored by my local library, especially one that is dedicated to business. It was a library I had come to know as a result of spending hours there doing my homework and researching my business idea. We had also come to know the librarians who were instrumental in developing our plan along the way. The library had proven to the a great resource during WIBO and would no doubt prove to continue to be so if we entered the competition.

What resources and connections did you get from the program? Did they come from the library or from other start-ups? 

Business is about relationships. The pursuit of winning this competition brought along many contacts and new relationships all of which contributed pieces, some small and some big towards completion of our goal: opening up our restaurant, Whether it was a lead, a contact, reading material, a phone number of someone to call to could help or knew of someone who might help, it all came about as a result of entering the competition which we were determined to win. Of course, the library itself proved to be an extremely valuable point of contact for much of the information that guided us to those contacts we ended up making.

Did you need funding? How did you obtain it?
We began this venture with no business experience, no money and no collateral. We believed that winning the business plan competition would have opened the wallets of investors and banks to assist us in funding our dream restaurant and time and time again we were proven wrong. However, this is where the benefit of having entered the local library's business competition came in very valuable. We had applied for a business loan to approximately 15 banks all of whom solicited numerous amounts of paperwork, applications and copies of tax returns time and time again from us and all of whom rejected our loan petition. Through the one of the sponsors of the competition, we met a vice president at a branch of one of the same banks that had rejected us earlier. After some cursory glances at our application and business plan, he brushed it all aside and said to us, "Tell me about this business." We told him that we envisioned a lively festive place that celebrated latin and Colombian food, drink, culture, music and art with a special focus on friendly service by a team of caring individuals all set out on the same mission: Create the hottest latin / Colombian restaurant in New York city."

He listened intently and responded, "I like the two of you. I do have a question for you. Will you serve frozen margaritas at this restaurant?" George and I had not considered selling frozen margaritas but we gleefully answered, "YES!" in unison.
"Excellent,!" he answered, "because us gay motherf*ckers LOVE our frozen margaritas!"

George and I dared not look at each but we were both unnerved by his response. Although dressed in a suit and seated before us in an overstuffed leather chair, this V.P. was not your typical banker. He shook our hands and told us that he would be in touch. We walked out of there shaking our heads in disbelief wondering about what had just transpired. We dismissed this application interview believing that it would probably be rejected as had all the other applications. Within 30 minutes, we received a phone call informing us that our loan request had been approved.

When did the business open and how is it doing?

We finally opened our doors on July 5, 2005 to the relief of all our friends, our family and ourselves. It was a dream in the making and we kept taking one step after another to reach this momentous occasion. We began with 25 employees and are now up to 55. Our email list contains almost 7,000 addresses, we are heavily involved in social media promotions through the use of Facebook; Twitter and YouTube. Bogota Latin Bistro has been featured in numerous media including a cooking segment on the NBC Today Show weekend edition. When once no one would loan us money to realize this dream, now we have people knocking on our door offering us money, locations and other opportunities upon which to build on our success. This year will mark the year that we finally pay off our loans and through the hiring of managers, my partner and I are taking more time off from the business to enjoy the rewards of our labor and to begin the process of starting a family. In spite of the market conditions, our 120 seat restaurant continues to thrive with waits of 30 minutes to an hour on weekends and with weekdays being filled to capacity too. I love telling our story because it is a true entrepreneurial tale. It involves persistence, discipline, faith and a lot of hard work. It is all paying off.