YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Amber Walley wanted to bring a Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop franchise back to her hometown after she fell in love with the product while living in Las Vegas in 2008.
She comes from a business background. Her partners are her brother, Preston Walley, who has both business and hospitality degrees, a Cordon Bleu culinary certificate and has been in the construction business. Their mother, Sue Walley Zickefoose, who was a daycare administrator, is the silent financial partner.
Their partnership provided many of the skills needed to operate their Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop in Canfield. But for financing and other questions they could not answer, the Walleys built a relationship with WesBanco, formerly Premier, where the commercial team is led by Josh Toot, executive vice president, Mahoning Valley market president.
“Banks usually look at somebody that’s established, a two-year track record,” Toot says. “If you give us the right borrower, we’re going to try to find whatever we can to make it work for you.”
But the team at WesBanco also works with startups, especially owners with some business experience like the Walley family.
“They’re absolutely killing it,” Toot says. “We’re very proud of them and what they’ve accomplished.”
Walley credits her team led by general manager Khaylah Brown for the day-to-day success of the restaurant.
The Canfield location garnered 2024 Franchisee of the Year honors from the International Franchise Association. Walley has since expanded with a second shop in Warren and plans are in the works for a third. Preston Walley also touts daily communication as a key factor in their success. His skills in construction and working with subcontractors helps save money with the expansions.
WesBanco helped them obtain a Small Business Administration loan and then a traditional loan.
“We went shopping for loans and Premier Bank had obviously the best rate out there,” Amber Walley says, adding “they were wonderful to work with.”
She credits the WesBanco team, especially John Montgomery, for helping them along the way, even on nights and weekends. Montgomery visits the store and reviews information.
“It’s almost like you gain a relationship/friendship with them because of the one-on-one communications and how they work with you and want you to succeed,” says Preston Walley. “It’s just a good strategy that helps you out, gives you that peace and understanding that everything will be all right because they help you along the way.”
PANTALONE SEALCOATING
Alex Amendolea has an engineering background, but he wanted a chance to be his own boss. When a small window of opportunity opened to purchase the sealcoating division of Pantalone Paving, he called several banks to find the financing.
Premier Bank’s Dave Howard, one of two banks that responded, found him financing that included Valley Partners splitting the loan with Premier Bank.
“I thought that was just great that Dave came up with a solution, just to avoid the SBA and get the deal done,” Amendolea says. “He knew the sensitive timeline.”
For the first two years, Pantalone Sealcoating operated out of the Pantalone Paving facility with only six employees and four or five trucks. Now, Amendolea says they have their own location, nine trucks, additional trailers and have doubled the number of employees during the busiest season – April through October.
The Girard business specializes in asphalt maintenance and restriping. Amendolea and another former engineer, Trevor Titch, use their CAD skills to design and upgrade equipment, putting money back into the company.
Toot of WesBanco says having a business background or a willingness to learn business can be key to success.
“[Amendolea] has a very good business mind, but he really hadn’t done anything on the sealcoating side,” Toot says, “so he did his research and he’s killing it.”
Amendolea says he hears from Howard a few times a year, even though he is certain the bank has a lot bigger customers. And Amendolea says he already knows who to contact when he is ready to expand again.
“I feel as soon as my initial loan’s paid off… just to expand a building on the property or obtain other equipment,” Amendolea says. “If we want to grow even more, it’s quite expensive, so probably better to get a loan than to pay for it out of pocket.”
CONVERSE ALL STEEL SERVICES
Founded in 1986 by Roger and Rose Converse, Converse All Steel Services in Canfield provides steel to heavy manufacturing companies after processing it using oxy-fuel burning, plasma burning, surface milling, drilling, press break bending and rolling. The company works with steel in thicknesses from an eighth of an inch to 12 inches.
When their daughter, Rita Hoffman, returned from California, she bought into her parents’ company and bought them out when they retired in 2014. Her brother, Ross Converse, joined her in 2016 and they have since expanded the company’s services.
When she needed the capital to buy out her parents, Hoffman says she sought financing through Farmers National Bank and Farmers helped again when she needed capital to buy several big pieces of equipment. Farmers also helped in the purchase of a new building near their first location and has provided them with a working line of credit.
“If we didn’t have that, we would have no capital to buy the things that we need to buy on a regular basis,” Hoffman says, adding there are high and low times in the steel industry.
When the economy is good and construction is happening, that can mean more business.
“It’s a strong company,” Hoffman says. “It’s doing well and we’re able to weather the storms in the meantime. [My parents] they built something good.”
AFFORDABLE STORAGE SOLUTIONS
Jason Black, co-owner of Affordable Storage Solutions, partnered with Farmers National Bank on five of his locations and with 717 on the sixth.
Black says Farmers helped him obtain an SBA loan through Valley Partners, which financed a build-out on his first location.
Farmers also had the note on the Southington property.
“Farmers was able to take a portion of the note at terms that were at a risk tolerance for them and then the SBA was able to take the remaining part of that loan at their risk tolerance and give a little bit better, favorable rate and repayment time,” Black says.
Since the Southington project, he has acquired more storage properties in Niles, Champion, Leavittsburg, Warren and one near Pymatuning Lake in Ashtabula County.
Black is also a financial consultant and partners with his mother for the storage properties and other real estate ventures.
Whether buying or leasing property, Black says his relationship with Farmers is essential to his business expansion plans.
DOUGLAS FAMILY EYECARE
Diana Douglas and her husband, Chad, are both optometrists. With a noncollateralized loan from 717 Credit Union, they opened their own practice in Warren in November 2009.
Both had plenty of optometry experience working for others, but Douglas admits they had limited business experience.
“717 was there for us,” Douglas said. “[Brett] Carnahan was there for us at a time that was very, very stressful and we needed someone to walk through that with us and believe in us that we were going to do it and be successful and we are thankful it all worked out really well.”
Douglas Family Eyecare celebrated its 15th anniversary, just after it expanded from two exam rooms to five. They hired an additional colleague in 2021.
They are considering a new project and Douglas says if and when that happens, they will again reach out to their partners at 717.
Pictured at top: Trevor Titch and Alex Amendolea of Pantalone Sealcoating pose outside the Girard business.