Twenty-two years after moving to Albuquerque to attend the University of New Mexico on a basketball scholarship, Frank Willis and his sister Tiffany moved their home-based catering operation, Frank’s Famous Chicken and Waffles, to a building on San Mateo Boulevard. The siblings did so with a $1,500 starter loan from the microlender DreamSpring and business advice from their mother Lola Beavers.

The Willises moved to New Mexico from California, where Frank grew up eating his signature dish and other traditional soul food at the Los Angeles eatery Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. Finding no such cuisine in New Mexico, Frank and Tiffany started cooking dishes in their shared apartment and selling them via Facebook orders.

In 2019, their first restaurant moved to a larger facility at 400 Washington St. SE. “It’s a much bigger, nicer restaurant,” said Beavers, who moved to Albuquerque in 2016 after retiring from her state government job in California. “The décor is similar, in that it has a music theme with photos of musicians on the walls, but it’s a little more classy.”

Beavers had helped her children with business finances while still working in Sacramento. She found DreamSpring online and applied for the loan because, she said, “we knew a bank wouldn’t lend to us.” After moving to New Mexico, she took responsibility for payroll and other administrative duties and earned an associates degree in business management. Her financial fluency paid off in future loan negotiations.

During the pandemic, DreamSpring helped the restaurant get a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan that helped the owners retain most of their employees. In October 2020, an overnight fire in a warming drawer closed the restaurant until February 2021.

Beavers returned to DreamSpring in 2021 to discuss a low-interest TrueGrit loan, which the lender offers in partnership with Wells Fargo, which funds the program with a generous grant.  The restaurant needed money to restaff after COVID shutdowns and to repair fire damage, and Beavers knew that the business’s financial losses would make traditional banks leery of lending to them.

New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado businesses that are at least two years old, are 51 percent woman-owned, and take out a non-PPP loan under $50,000 are automatically enrolled in DreamSpring’s Tory Burch Foundation program, which is offered in partnership with the Tory Burch Foundation and Bank of America, said Laura Marrich, a DreamSpring senior communications specialist. After 12 successful loan payments, Beavers will receive a check for the interest paid — in essence, a rebate. Should they need it, the restaurant team can access Tory Burch Foundation resources and customized in-house technical assistance.

“In this economic climate, it’s a great move for small-business owners to lock in a fixed interest rate with affordable repayments spread over a longer term, as Lola has done,” Marrich said. “It helps safeguard against inflation and Fed rate increases while building some ‘dry powder’ reserves in the event of a downturn. Lola’s a savvy businessperson!”

The restaurant fully opened in July 2021. Five months later, it was featured on celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s television show, “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,” which increased its popularity.

Beavers is talking to DreamSpring about a third loan to capitalize on the uptick in business in 2022. The restaurant is interested in adding a food truck or a catering service.

“Sometimes it’s scary to apply for a loan, especially for a small business,” Beavers said. “you’re already prepped to get denied. But DreamSpring makes the process easy. Even if you can’t qualify right then, they’ll tell you what you need to improve to qualify. They don’t make you feel like you’re begging for something.”

Find Frank’s Chicken and Waffles menus and location at franksfamouschickenandwaffles.com. Learn more about DreamSpring here.

Finance New Mexico article 796. Photos courtesy of Frank’s Famous Chicken and Waffles.