After moving from Florida to Corpus Christi, Elias and Norma Jimenez both found work easily enough, but what they really wanted to do was open their own restaurant. Elias had managed an Italian restaurant in Florida for many years and longed to own his own. They came across a listing for a pizzeria in the Calallen area that piqued their interest, and quickly entered into negotiations with the seller, who recommended they contact the Small Business Development Center at Del Mar College for help packaging a loan request.

In September 2004, SBDC business advisor Michael North met with Elias and Norma to discuss their dreams of owning their own restaurant. Over the next several weeks, North helped Elias and Norma negotiate a purchase price with the seller that was less than it would have cost to open the same pizzeria at a similar location. Moreover, we were able to negotiate the owner into providing seller financing. North worked with Elias and Norma on getting a consumer loan to use for the down payment and the parties closed the transaction October 15, 2004. Elias and Norma’s dream had come true and they were now the proud proprietors of Tower of Pizza. According to Elias and Norma, “Mr. North helped us start our business and told us how to increase our sales and at the same time keep our customers 100% satisfied. By discussing with us how to get a business loan, Mr. North was a lot of help and because of him we were able to open the restaurant earlier than we’d expected. We would like to thank Mr. North for all his help in getting us started with the business.”

Elias and Norma Jimenez have come a long way in a short time and have already expanded their menu. Tower of Pizza is doing very well and is located at 14902 Trinity River #1, Corpus Christi, Texas. Elias and Norma’s acquisition of the restaurant resulted in three new jobs created and three existing jobs retained.