Restaurant Small Business Management

Location: CGCC in Hood River

Program Description & Fall 2026 Class Schedule

Small Business Development Center’s RSBM Program

The Restaurant SBM Program has been engineered from the ground up to deliver relevant, robust content specifically for restaurant operators in The Columbia Gorge and smaller Oregon communities. It features Oregon experts with deep roots in the restaurant industry and a passion for its success.

The SBDC recognizes that the top five reasons restaurants fail are: poor leadership, substandard hospitality, poor hiring and training, forgettable food, and struggling with cost containment. Theses nine powerful workshops — plus monthly one-on-one advising sessions — are all geared to make the participants’ operations successful, enjoyable and rewarding.

The RSBM Program is for people already in the food business and looking to grow, either by improving their operation or making significant changes to their business model. For example, they may want to move from a catering business to a food truck or expand from a food truck to a brick & mortar, or, by building upon one success, add another location. In general, the program works best for people looking to improve their business, increase their income and have a better work/life balance.

We meet once a month for a three-hour class on Mondays or Tuesdays, 9 am to noon, for nine months. Designed as an in-person class, the format creates a classroom cohort of peers who encourage and learn from each other, as well as from our highly respected instructors, allowing a rich opportunity for Q&A and networking. This in-person program is based at the Columbia Gorge Community College in Hood River. Each session will be recorded, allowing people to watch a class recording when they have a scheduling or weather-related conflict.

Tuition is $900. Limited scholarships of $700 are available. Enroll now to reserve your spot.

If you have questions, or are in the start-up phase, contact our program manager, Leslie Hildula.

Email: hildulal@gmail.com or text Leslie at: 503-939-8648 between 9am and 6pm, Monday – Saturday.

RSBM Class Schedule

All classes are 9am – Noon at the CGCC campus in Hood River, 2nd Monday or Tuesday of the month. 1730 College Way, Hood River, OR 97031

September 14, 2026, Monday # 1: Standing Out from the Competition: Branding & Marketing for Independent Operators

Instructor: Chef Tselani Richmond, SYSCO Consulting Chef and graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Paris in cuisine and pastry. She’s instructed at The Art Institute of Portland's International Culinary Program, Le Cordon Bleu Portland and became a chef instructor at Oregon Culinary Institute. Tse is the first chef to have taught at all three Portland culinary schools.

October 13, 2026, Tuesday # 2: Essential Bookkeeping for Your Food Business

Instructor: Natalie Bronson, Accountant, Bronson Bookkeeping in Hood River. Natalie started her finance career in 2000, beginning in Central Oregon in consumer banking and then onto commercial banking for 5 years. Natalie transitioned to bookkeeping & accounting for small businesses for the last two decades. Her experience covers many areas of financial management, including: accounts payable, accounts receivable, asset, liability, and equity account management, loan packaging, loan covenant compliance, project management and analysis, financial accounting, financial reporting, payroll, various tax form preparation and filing, foreign labor contract administration, cost accounting, price structuring, business financial performance analysis, financial position analysis, resource management, entity structuring, and the implementation of various accounting software products.

November 9, 2026, Monday, # 3: Effective Digital Sales & Marketing for The Gorge

Instructor: Jen McFarland, Jen McFarland Consulting. Jen helps businesses make exceptional marketing decisions with courses, coaching, and content. Her focus is on small, service-based businesses. Why? Because it’s harder to get your hands on high-quality marketing support and information.

December 8, 2026, Tuesday, # 4: Managing Your Money for Sustainable Profits.

Instructor: Kurt Huffman, Managing Partner, ChefStable. partnering with chefs to design, build and operate restaurants. A partial list: St. Jack, Oven and Shaker, Dos Hermanos Bakery, Ox, Coopers Hall, Lardos, Grassa, Blutos, Loyal Legion, Fracture Brewing, Pacific Standard, The Evergreen

January 12, 2027, Tuesday, #5: Attracting, Managing, & Retaining Employees

Instructor: Chef Lisa Schroeder, Executive Chef & Owner, Mother’s Bistro & Bar. SBA Oregon Small Businessperson of the Year 2023. On May 1, Schroeder went to the White House and met President Biden and Vice President Harris.

February 8, 2027, Monday, #6: Revising Menus to Attract Customers & Control Food Costs

Instructor: Chef Cory Schreiber, A fourth-generation restaurateur in Portland, cookbook author and winner of the James Beard Award in 1998 for Best Chef Pacific Northwest and Wildwood. He was was inducted into the Nation’s Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame in Chicago in 2003. Cory closed the restaurant in 2014 and is currently a chef consultant for Sysco, the nation’s largest foodservice marketer and distributor.

March 9, 2027, Tuesday, #7: Bar Management & Remarkable Customer Service

Instructor: Chef Ken Henson, Refettorio Consulting, former Executive Chef, Pelican Brewery and currently on the Boards of OHF and ACF. “Small independent restaurants make an average of less than 4% while they should be making 10% or more… dedicated to making easier to run, less stressful, and more profitable food and beverage business a reality.”

April 6, 2027, Tuesday, # 8: How to Navigate Leases & Other Legal Issues

Instructor: Susan Felstiner, Professor of Law and Clinic Director, SBLC. Lewis & Clark Law School’s Small Business Legal Clinic (SBLC) provides transactional legal services to low-income, small, and emerging businesses throughout Oregon and hands-on practical education to law students. Since opening in 2006, the SBLC has provided transactional legal assistance to thousands of small businesses in areas such as leases, insurance, and employment law.

Professor Felstiner joined the law school in 2012. Prior to this, Susan practiced with the Portland law firm of Cable Huston for over fourteen years, representing businesses in transactional and litigation matters; counselling clients on a variety of issues, including formation and governance, negotiation and drafting of contracts, construction liens, and employment practices.

May 4, 2027, Tuesday, #9: Financing, Managing Debt, and Exit Strategies

Instructor: Arnie Hendricks - CMA, CFBA, CEPA, CM&AA. Arnie Hendricks, contract CFO, Financial Management Resources, helping business owners solve issues which prohibit their profitable growth and increase the value of their companies. Over the last six years he has also focused on helping business owners successfully transition the ownership in their businesses.

May 2027, Graduation/Celebration, TBD