From business advice and training to financing, wrap-around support from Community Futures Peterborough (CFP) has given Peterborough restaurateur Susan Tung the tools and confidence she needs to build on her success.
Time and time again, the owner of Hanoi House, Electric City Catering, and now Mei Mei has returned to Community Futures Peterborough to learn, plan, obtain a loan, and connect with the non-profit organization’s dedicated and knowledgeable team.
“We’re making it a really seamless journey for businesses to access both advisory and lending support under one roof,” says CFP executive director Devon Girard. “We’re able to expand our reach to entrepreneurs like Susan and try to make their business journey easier every step of the way.”
A lifelong passion for the restaurant industry
Long before Tung opened Hanoi House, her Vietnamese restaurant at 1040 Lansdowne Street West, she had a first-hand understanding of what it means to be a restaurant entrepreneur.
She grew up working in her parents’ Chinese restaurant in Cavan. After spending some time away to attend school in Toronto, she found herself pulled right back into the restaurant world when she returned to Peterborough to help her parents with the business again.
“My parents wanted me to be a doctor but then my life had other plans, and I just fell back into the industry because I love doing what I do,” she says.
Following her passion, Tung decided to start her own restaurant and opened Hanoi House in 2020. After several successful years, she decided to expand her business and connected with CFP, an organization she knew had been supporting small businesses like hers for more than 40 years.
“At the time, I had actually started doing some catering on the side that wasn’t directly related to Hanoi House,” she says. “Because Hanoi House is an Asian restaurant, it’s not like people were coming to us for catering — weddings and bridal showers and all those events. To diversify our revenue, I started offering catering on the side.”
Kickstarting her catering business with the help of Starter Company Plus
To kickstart Electric City Catering, in late 2024 Tung applied to the Starter Company Plus program, a provincially funded entrepreneurial training delivered by the Business Advisory Centre at CFP. She graduated from the six-week program along with 20 other entrepreneurs, who each received up to $5,000 in a micro-grant, which Tung used to purchase a trailer for her business.
As well as receiving expert guidance and networking with other entrepreneurs, Tung came away from the experience knowing CFP was there to help with her business aspirations.
“You want to be associated with them because they genuinely support small businesses in the community,” Tung says.
Since then, Tung has maintained a relationship with the whole team at CFP and has continued to seek out personalized support from the Business Advisory Centre.
“Susan is an incredibly hardworking and strategic business owner. She looks at the food industry and restaurants in a very unique way,” says Rose Terry, manager of the Business Advisory Centre and corporate communications at CFP. “What really sets her apart as a business owner in the community is the way that she strategically markets her business.”
Financing help from Community Futures for restaurant renovations
When Tung decided to expand her business yet again by launching Chinese buffet restaurant Mei Mei, she needed to renovate a space at 1040 Lansdowne Street West. Rather than using her own savings to finance the renovation, she decided to approach CFP for a loan.
“It felt safer to take out the loan knowing that I was going to pay it back. With my business plan and my business model, I was very confident that Mei Mei would be profitable.”
When working with CFP loans manager Braden Clark to arrange for a flexible loan, Tung was happy to learn she would not face a penalty for repaying her loan early.
“The fact that I’m actually able to be successful and not be penalized for it is amazing,” she says. “Why would you not go with Community Futures if that’s the case?”
CFP can offer flexible financing with competitive interest rates because, as a not-for-profit, the organization’s sole focus is on supporting small businesses in our community
“Because we’re a nonprofit, we manage our own loan portfolio,” says Clark. “Every dollar we lend to businesses comes back to us with interest and stays within the portfolio. We then recycle that capital to continue lending to other businesses in our community.”
‘Seamless integration’ between the Business Advisory Centre and Community Futures
Clark says knowing Tung had worked with the Business Advisory Centre meant that CFP’s loans committee was presented with a comprehensive and well-prepared application for review.
“Loan applicants working with advisors, gives us some additional comfort in terms of the quality of business and financial planning that has gone into a start-up or expansion,” says Clark.
Terry says the team at the Business Advisory Centre not only has a high level of expertise in helping entrepreneurs develop their business plans, but also know what business information and financials CFP’s loans committee is looking for when it comes to approving loan applications.
“When those business plans and loan applications come to Braden, he’s spending less time on them because they are more complete,” she explains. That “seamless integration,” she adds, is one of the benefits for clients of the Business Advisory Centre.
As for Tung, she experienced a full-circle moment because of her strong ties with CFP. She recently had the opportunity to speak to participants in SOAR, CFP’s business training program for growth-stage businesses, about her experience in selling her Japanese restaurant NAKA last year.
Connecting with Community Futures is a sound investment
As Tung now continues with her latest venture, she knows CFP has her back. Her advice to other entrepreneurs, whether just starting out or established like herself, is that building a relationship with CFP is a sound investment in the future of their business.
“Reach out and connect with Community Futures and you’ll be surprised at all the things they can do to help you, even if you have a great business and you’re not struggling financially,” she says.
Terry agrees, noting that CFP has a genuine interest in supporting businesses at all stages. The Business Advisory Centre support is free to small businesses in the City of Peterborough and Peterborough County.
“We want them to be successful, so we’re doing everything in our power to support them,” she says. “That’s how our whole team functions. We wrap around those clients in any way they need us to.”
For more information about Community Futures Peterborough, visit communityfuturespeterborough.ca.
Community Futures Peterborough is a not-for-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), as part of the Community Futures Program.
The Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) program is delivered locally by Community Futures Peterborough and funded in partnership with the Province of Ontario. The Business Advisory Centre also receives operational funding from the City of Peterborough and Peterborough County.
This branded editorial was created in partnership with Community Futures Peterborough. If your organization or business is interested in a branded editorial, contact us.
