Del. SBA celebrates local business; talks changing landscape
Monday in Rehoboth Beach, Small Business Administration officials stopped by to honor the Henlopen Oyster House, the winner of their 2016 business of the year.
With help from the SBA, WSFS Bank and the Delaware Small Business Development Center, Joe Baker and Chris Bisaha launched the Oyster House back in June 2010. We’re told that they currently employs 40 people serve more than 60,000 every year. The restaurant and seafood bar is open year round and apparently has a significant following from the Washington D.C. area. “Great, great honor kind of unexpected for us,” said Bisaha when asked about the award. His business partner, Joe Baker added, “I think a big part of winning the award is credited to our staff and the great staff we have here. They help keep this place running,”
Both Baker and Bisaha will be heading to Washington in about a month from now to be honored with other winning business owners from around the country.
It’s businesses like the Henlopen Oyster House that are taking advantage and helping to shape what we’re told is a changing small biz landscape.
John Fleming, the director of the Delaware SBA, told 47 ABC that over the past four years Delaware’s beach communities have become more business-friendly even outside of the peak summer tourist season. He credits an influx of new residents in Sussex County, so tourists boost the economy in the summer and the locals keep it running in the offseason.
“small businesses are able to stay open, retain their talent and save money on training,” Said Fleming, “we have favorable taxes here and a favorable healthcare system so it’s really helped to grow the economy,”
Fleming says even though southern Delaware has more small businesses per capita than the rest of Delaware, there’s been success up and down the state. In Kent County, Fleming says new businesses are setting up shop off of Route 13 to tap into the market of Delaware State University students and staff.
Also spurring small business? Loans.
We’re told statewide, 2015 was a record-setting year for the SBA as they awarded $112-million in loans, largely from U.S. Congress. Marking a 100% bump from a typical $50-60-million dollar loan year. As for what the future holds Fleming says a bigger role for small business.
“we’re predicting that more and more small businesses will get away from some of the large corporation mentality that we have here in Delaware and we’ll see a more diverse economy rather than rely on the large business.”
Additionally, Fleming says there’s potential for more businesses and jobs to open up thanks to the expanding healthcare industry in Delaware.
