Meeting the Challenge: Consult Nutrition Takes Control of its Rapid Growth
Florida SBDC at UCF Assists Dietician Services Company Manage Its Today and Plan for Its Tomorrow
May 29, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or hthayer@ucf.edu
Sharon Smith, Consultant, FSBDC at UCF, 407.497.5933 or sharon.smith2@ucf.edu
Orlando, FL – Rapid revenue growth is the target that all small businesses dream of and aim for, until it happens and new problems arise. Then, while the challenges and growing pains are welcome, they can often feel overwhelming. Suddenly what was a small operation has become a big undertaking and new issues crop up almost everywhere. It was exactly that situation that Wendy Lombard, founder and president of Consult Nutrition, encountered. Her solution was to turn to the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) for assistance and guidance, and she is happy she did.
Consult Nutrition provides dietician services for geriatric facilities including long-term care, skilled rehabilitation, and assisted living. Comprised of a team of registered and licensed dietitian professionals, Consult Nutrition creates customized dietary programs focused on seniors. “We’re different from other consulting companies because we prefer to be a small company,” explains Lombard, “which enables us to really know our clients, to know what their needs are. Being small also allows us to be more of a team and work with each other to come up with creative solutions for the patients we are serving and for our clients who care for those patients.”
“We originally looked for help from the FSBDC because our company had grown so rapidly that my job was transitioning from working with our clients and our patients to actually running a company,” Lombard recalls, “and dealing with all sorts of issues that I just was not equipped to handle.” Enter FSBDC at UCF consultant Sharon Smith to assist by providing the FSBDC’s no-cost, expert consulting and guidance on a multitude of fronts, including business planning, financial forecasting, access to capital, marketing, and human resources.
“When we started working with Sharon, we were initially considering what we wanted to do with the company in the future,” says Lombard. At the same time, Consult Nutrition was growing so fast that cash flow was becoming a concern. “I was focused on getting financing to make sure that it wasn’t such a challenge to make sure our staff got paid on time,” Lombard shared. “Sharon was able to help us with that and to look at other things, important things like legal and human resources considerations and not being a tiny little business that is not subject to those regulations. She also helped with a business valuation that opened our eyes to opportunities we hadn’t before contemplated.”
At the same time, having helped Lombard master Consult Nutrition’s growing pains, Smith kept asking “where do you want the company to be in 5 – 10 years?” “I was so excited about having achieved what we had achieved, I really hadn’t thought about the future. Now we are looking at how do we help this company grow and what dreams do we have about what we can turn this company into,” Lombard states.
Lombard is now on a steady course and managing the company’s growth more effectively, with revenue having increased 50% year over year, necessary funding having been accessed, and additions made to her team. “I would advise anyone to absolutely reach out to the SBDC,” concludes Lombard. “There are so many resources – much more than I had been aware of – that are available to you at no cost and that support is just invaluable when you’re a small business.”
For information about Consult Nutrition, please visit https://www.consultnutritioninc.com/.
— FSBDC —
About the FSBDC at UCF
Hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), and with its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of part of UCF’s Office of the President and the Florida SBDC Network.
The Florida SBDC at UCF provides aspiring and existing small businesses with no-cost consulting, low-cost training, and access to business data and research resources. In addition to its core service offering, the Florida SBDC at UCF also offers specialized services to qualifying companies, including capital access, market growth, government contracting, international trade, business continuation, cybersecurity, disaster planning and recovery, and more. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 9 service centers across Central Florida.
In 2022, the FSBDC at UCF served more than 2,700 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 10,600 jobs created, retained or saved; $793.9 million in sales growth; $66.7 million in capital formation; $103.8 million in government contract awards; and 160 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com .
About the Florida SBDC Network
For more than 45 years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.
In 2022, the Florida SBDC Network delivered 117,750 hours of consulting to 14,758 small business clients – resulting in business owners securing $446 million in capital, $445 million in government contracting, impacting 23,515 jobs, increasing sales by over $4.5 billion, and creating 825 businesses.
With over 40 offices statewide, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.
FSBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862
sbdc@ucf.edu | www.sbdcorlando.com
