The restaurant brokers, Eric and Robin Gagnon were joined on the air recently by industry experts to discuss the topic of financing a restaurant.  Guests featured some of the restaurant industry's best and brightest including:  

David Nillson, Co-Founder and CEO of Guidant Financial

David co-founded Guidant Financial in 2003 and has been a featured speaker at over 350 national and international events, covering topics from entrepreneurship to small business financing. In addition, he and his company have been highlighted in such media sources such as CNBC, Fortune Magazine, Entrepreneur, CNN and The Wall Street Journal. In 2007, the Small Business Administration (SBA) named Nilssen the National Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the Puget Sound Business Journal named him one of the top 40 businesspeople under 40 years of age. In both 2008 & 2009, Ernst and Young named him a finalist for their coveted Entrepreneur of the Year award. In 2011, David released a book called Making the Jump into Small Business Ownership and was named one of the Top 100 Small Business Influencers. He is also a past president of the Seattle Entrepreneurs’ Organization.

Sylvia Shiverdecker   Vice President, BB&T

Sylvia has been a business banking lender for over fifteen years.  She started her career in Birmingham, Al with SouthTrust Bank as a small business lender.  Southtrust Bank was purchased by Wachovia bank and then by Wells Fargo.  She left Wells Fargo in June of 2010 and joined BB&T Bank as a Business Services Officer.  A Business Services Officer at BB&T Bank works with business owners to help them obtain the capital they need to operate and grow.  She works with restaurant buyers to offer cash management and deposit services to help business owners manage the day to day cash flow of a business. 

The entire show featured this illustrious panel taking on topics such as:

• What's the best path to financing?
• Can you combine sources to leverage your capital?
• What's the time frame to obtain financing based on the source of funding you use? 

Watch the restaurant brokers in our video series for the answers to these and other questions on buying a restaurant with the use of financing options in today's marketplace.

The restaurant brokers are live on the air every Saturday at noon on Atlanta's WGKA AM920.  You can also listen after the fact to a podcast of the entire restaurant radio show.  The podcast is available online through subscription through the iTunes store and on their powerhouse website, wesellrestaurants.com.