Restaurant Small Business Management

Want to Grow Your Food Business?

The Restaurant Small Business Management 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: moving from a catering business to a food truck, expanding from a food cart to a brick & mortar, or adding another location. In general, they are looking to improve their business to increase their income and have a better work/life balance.

The Restaurant SBM Program has been engineered from the ground up to deliver relevant, robust content specifically for restaurant operators in Lincoln County and smaller Oregon communities. It features Oregon experts with deep roots in the restaurant industry. The nine powerful workshops — plus monthly one-on-one advising sessions — are all geared to make the participants’ operations as successful as possible, and to make their work more enjoyable and rewarding.

Beginning October 13th, we meet once a month for a three-hour class on Mondays, 9 am to noon, for nine months. Designed as an in-person class, we bring together a small cohort of Business Owners, Executive Chefs, & General Managers. They encourage and learn from each other, as well as from our highly respected instructors, allowing a rich opportunity for personalized instruction and networking.

This year’s program is based at the Oregon Coast Community College in Lincoln City.

Tuition is $900. Limited scholarships of $550 are available.

If you have questions, or are in the start-up phase, contact our program manager, Leslie Hildula at HildulaL@gmail.com or call/text at 503-939-8648. You can also contact the SBDC Assist. Director Kelliane Parker at kelliane.parker@oregoncoast.edu

RSBM Schedule All classes are 9am to Noon at the Lincoln City OCCC campus.

October 13, 2025, SESSION 1: Standing Out from the Competition: Branding & Marketing with Guest Expert Chef Tselani Richmond, SYSCO Consulting Chef

November 10, 2025, SESSION 2: Tracking Your Money: Basic Bookkeeping with SBDC Instructor Natalie Bronson, SBDC QuickBooks Expert & Advisor

December 8, 2025, SESSION 3: Managing Your Money for Sustainable Profits. with Guest Expert Kurt Huffman, Managing Partner, ChefStable

January 12, 2026, SESSION 4: Essential Digital Marketing with Guest Expert Jen McFarland, Jen McFarland Consulting

February 9, 2026, SESSION 5: Revising Menus to Attract Customers & Control Food Costs with Guest Expert Chef Cory Schreiber, SYSCO Consulting Chef

March 9, 2026, SESSION 6: Attracting & Managing Employees
with Guest Expert Chef Lisa Schroeder, Executive Chef & Owner, Mother’s Bistro & Bar, Portland

April 13, 2026, SESSION 7: Bar Management & Remarkable Customer Service with Guest Expert Chef Ken Henson, Consultant, former Executive Chef, Pelican Brewery

May 11, 2026, SESSION 8: Financing, Managing Debt, and Exit Strategies with Guest Expert Arnie Hendricks - CMA, CFBA, CEPA, CM&AA. Financial Management Resources

June 8, 2026, SESSION 9: Local Sourcing & Sustainability with Guest Expert Laura Anderson, founder, Local Ocean in Newport and co-founder of Central Coast Food Web

June 2026, SESSION 10: Graduation/Celebration, TBD

Request more information and speak with our team at the link: https://form.jotform.com/241584789816070