Starting a new business can be an exhilarating and nerve-wracking experience little did I know that expanding a business can be just as stressful. In 2017 despite my initial reluctance to do so, Carmelo and I decided it was time to expand 95 Nutrition by added a 2nd location in the Southtowns of WNY. I didn’t know it at the time but this would the one and only time I have ever said “This is the biggest mistake we have ever made”. Let me explain.
Owning a business located on Grand Island NY we were lucky to have such an extensive Custer base to begin with. Customers would say “You’re lucky your food is so good because I make the drive all the way from _____.” We were so grateful, but also mindful that this business model couldn’t last forever. After all Grand Island is not an easy place to get to and support from the community on “The Island” couldn’t be depended on. We needed to open multiple locations across WNY to meet the demands of our customers. I can’t remember how we landed on West Seneca but we set our sites for our 2nd location there.
It was set be be our first major investment ($75k), and we practically emptied our bank account to fund the project per my dad’s suggestion because he always preached that “Debt is bad”. We can discuss that advice in a later blog as it is not the advice I would give any business owner today but he was old school. I can’t blame him for that. Carmelo and I decided to fund the 
project out of pocket, we didn’t know any better, after all this was new to us. This was our first major lease agreement with a landlord and the thought of signing on the dotted line for FIVE YEARS was overwhelming. What if we fail, what if we can’t pay
the rent? Okay, stuff those feelings deep inside and onto the cost of building a professional retail space. Now remember, I didn’t have a dollar to my name prior to starting 95 Nutrition so the thought of spending $75k on the infrastructure of a store just to hope to sell our meals out if it kept me up at night, to say the least. As the construction started and the checks started being written it was the strangest feeling in the world. On one hand I was THRILLED that the store was starting to come to life but on the other hand I was terrified that the bank account was going down weekly. To top off the financial stress the final projected ended up coming in $50k over what we had budgeted for. If $75k wasn’t already hard to stomach it was now $125K. I distantly remember it was at this point I said “THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE WE HAVE EVER MADE” Thankfully I had my husband to go to when I was ready to melt down. He was always far more confident in the venture than I was.
I remember feeling very nervous leading up to the grand opening. We had invested so much time, money, and energy into this location, and the thought of it being a failure was overwhelming. We did our homework however, we ramped up advertising, made sure to spread the word and now all we had to do was wait. Wait to live, wait to die… (lol Titanic reference)
The grand opening was August 19th 2017. With a dangerously low bank account balance and my stomach in my throat, I went 
to flick on the open sign and saw we already had a line queued outside the entrance. Customers came by the droves brining their friends and family with them. The meals were flying out of the cooler. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I literally wanted to cry. It was a HUGE success. As we wrapped up opening night we suddenly realized we had another problem. We just sold hundreds of meals and are running dangerously low for tomorrow. We couldn’t disappoint the customers that may come in tomorrow morning, so back to the kitchen we went that night. We all stayed until 3 am in our kitchen making more food to replenish the location the next morning before opening. This (good) struggle didn’t subside for a month. We never expected the demand to be that high so our tiny kitchen and small staff struggled to keep up with the ever increasing food demand. Our team worked long hard hours during this time and to this day I will never be able to thank them enough for the effort they put in. They could have said “hey it’s been 8 hours, I’m going home” but instead every single staff member stayed will the job was done every night. After about a month of the intense grind we found a rhythm. Can I just be honest?… I never once worried about the bank account balance after the first week of being open with 2 locations. It was taking care of itself.
Looking back, this experience taught me a couple valuable lessons. I learned to believe in myself and to trust the process. Despite the initial challenges, we managed to overcome them and come out stronger. We learned from our mistakes and used them to improve our operations and expand our business. Since this location, we have opened 12 more locations that have gone incredibly smooth (compared to this one). They all come with hiccups and oversights, mistakes and overage expenses, but we are learning with every location we successfully open.
In the world of business, every decision you make could mean the difference between success and failure. One wrong move can have serious consequences for your company’s reputation, financial stability, and long-term success. Whether you’re launching a new product, expanding your operations, or investing in a new venture, every decision you make requires careful consideration and planning. Had we not taken the risk of opening our 2nd location we would not be where we are today and I definitely wouldn’t have to hear my husband say “I told you so”.
