PITTSBORO — Growing up, Chatham transplant Phillip Pappas thought he’d one day come to manage his family’s decades-old restaurant catering business.
Now, years later, he’s helping other small business owners manage their companies instead.
Pappas joined Central Carolina Community College in August as its new Small Business Center Coordinator for Chatham County. Located at CCCC’s Pittsboro campus, the Chatham Small Business Center (SBC) offers free confidential counseling services to anyone who wants to start or grow a small business. It’s part of a network of SBCs across the state and the country.
“So whether it’s startup information, business plan writing, marketing, maybe some different classes for in-business clients, that’s kind of our role, or niche, in college,” Pappas told the News + Record. “ ... So typically, somebody gets the idea, ‘I want to start a business.’ They don’t know where to start, so hopefully, we’re doing our job and getting our information out there.”
Besides free one-on-one business counseling, the Chatham SBC also provides free workshops, information seminars, help securing funding, and marketing. For more information about the Chatham County Small Business Center’s offerings, contact Phillip Pappas at 919-545-8015 or ppapp612@cccc.edu.
“It seems to me that when I talk to clients for the first time there, one of the first things they say is ‘Wow, I didn’t know this was free,’ or ‘I didn’t know that was here,’” Pappas said. “So these are free services for anyone interested in starting a business, and then we kind of go from there.”
Pappas is no stranger to small business counseling and development — in fact, he started his small business career and education at an earlier age than most at Princess Restaurant in Frostburg, Maryland.
“I grew up working in the family business,” he said. “It’s a restaurant catering company and confectionery. It opened in 1939 … I’ve always had an interest in small business, so when I got older, of course, I went to culinary school, assuming that I would one day take over this restaurant.”
He received an Associate of Applied Science in culinary arts and Bachelor of Science in management from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island — and after taking a year off, went back to school for a Master of Business Administration degree from Frostburg State University in Maryland.
While studying for his MBA, he applied for and obtained a graduate assistantship with the Maryland Small Business Development Center. That decision ended up launching his career in small business development.
“I kind of started there not knowing really much about economic development, how these types of organizations help small businesses, but then quickly discovered that I liked it — and then, as luck would have it, I think maybe a year in, the then-director offered me a full time job,” he said. “So I had, I think, a semester or two left of my MBA program and started full time with Maryland SBDC.”
He stayed with the Maryland SBDC for a few years before moving to North Carolina, where he began working as a financial services officer at the North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union. After five years with the credit union, he “rediscovered (his) culinary roots” and tried his luck as a corporate chef for a national food brokerage company.
After a while, though, he decided he wanted to get back into small business development — and when opportunity came knocking, he didn’t think twice.
“I always wanted to get back into this,” Pappas said. “It just seemed like it was never the right time to do that, and this time, it seemed like all the pieces fell into place.”
Helping others create and grow successful businesses had become his passion.
“I like helping,” he said. “I like solving problems when possible. In my last job, as a corporate chef, when you go into a new restaurant, one thing that I always liked to do was help an owner, if solicited for advice, trying to be that person that can help them make their life easier, make their business more successful.”
A month into the role, he’s still onboarding and learning the network — which he called “the biggest bottleneck so far” — but everything’s starting to get easier.
“I’m starting to meet more people and put faces to names and positions,” he said.
In his new role, he’s looking to help business owners realize their dreams and provide more jobs for Chatham County residents. Among the most acute concerns he expects to help aspiring and existing small business owners address? Funding and employee retention.
“Well, it’s always been funding,” he said. “ … Most people assume that there are lots of grants, federal programs or free monies for business startups. Unfortunately, that’s not really the case. Then during COVID, similarly to post-2008 bubble-bursting, commercial lending is not as robust as it used to be, so the funding still remains the biggest issue and of course, COVID happens.”
Ultimately, Pappas said he hopes to continue building upon the Chatham Small Business Center’s work.
“If I can help somebody, start a business that creates jobs, personally, professionally, that would be a great endeavor,” he said. “For me, I never liked jobs that required office time or pushing paper. (I’ve always liked) something that meant a little more, and I feel like these types of jobs really help people.”
Reporter Victoria Johnson can be reached at victoria@chathamnr.com.