Born in New York City’s Little Italy and brought up in Brooklyn, Paul LaRocco learned a time-honored recipe for thin-crust Neapolitan pizza dough. He brought the New York secret to California and in 2008, he and his wife opened the first LaRocco’s Pizzeria, offering eat-in, takeout and delivery service of pizza, calzones and sandwiches made fresh daily.
LaRocco’s was profitable from day one, sales increased every year, and the restaurant was voted Best Pizza in Los Angeles for five years running. Paul LaRocco previously owned two successful restaurants, however, when he approached banks seeking a loan to open another location, a challenge emerged.
“I applied several times, and because I was self-employed, was considered a ‘newbie,’ despite many years in business. It was very frustrating,” LaRocco recalls. Paul and his wife were about to give up on the location they had found when, in December 2013, LaRocco’s wife found the Small Business Development Center hosted by Pacific Coast Regional online.
LaRocco worked one-on-one with Business advisors Harold C. Hart-Nibbrig and Sahar Andrade to fine-tune his business plan, obtain an SBA Community Advantage Loan, add social media to his marketing mix, and took the PCR SBDC Guided Business Plan course.
“The business plan course was very helpful,” says LaRocco. “I didn’t know the ins and outs of how to look at a business plan – how brief it should be, how intelligible, how someone will read it and what’s important to include.” Once LaRocco completed the course, Hart-Nibbrig edited the plan and provided input. “Their help was very timely and they had a lot of input – they helped me dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s.” In January 2014, LaRocco’s received a $150,000 direct loan through Pacific Coast Regional’s SBA Community Advantage Loan Program.