WNMU’s Small Business Development Center is proud to announce its Star Client for 2015, Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery.
Teresa Dahl-Bredine and Dave Crosley founded Little Toad Creek LLC in 2012. The company operates in two locations, Lake Roberts and Silver City, where the Toad is the cornerstone of an area renaissance.
Dave first approached the SBDC at WNMU in early 2008 with his dream of brewing beer.
In 2012, Teresa and Dave opened Little Toad Inn & Tavern at the intersection of Highways 35 and 15 thirty miles outside Silver City, New Mexico. The following year they added a craft brewery and nano distillery on the premises.
After the first season of operating the brewery and distillery in the heart of the Gila National Forest, Teresa and Dave realized that their products had the ability to attract a much larger audience. In December of 2013, they opened a tasting room and full-service restaurant in downtown Silver City, Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery.
In their first year downtown, demand for Little Toad beer tripled and spirits sales took off. “We didn’t imagine the success we’d have there; our tiny production plant could barely keep up,” says Teresa.
Thanks to a Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) grant from the New Mexico Economic Development Department and a loan from Western New Mexico Bank, plans are now being realized for a downtown brewery and distillery to be located in the old Silver Skate Rink.
The Toad will renovate the building and outfit it with state of the art equipment, expanding brewing capacity from 200 barrels a year to 9000 barrels a year.
Distillery capacity will triple. The operation will create 10 production jobs over the next three years and support sales of products such as “Whatever Wheat“ and “Amphibian Amber“ beyond the borders of New Mexico.
With its new tasting room on the San Vicente Creek “Big Ditch” the new facility will bring vitality to the south end of Bullard Street.
Teresa Dahl-Bredine says “Jane Janson at the Small Business Development Center has been instrumental in helping us develop our brewery expansion plan in a way that is thorough and realistic. SBDC has also helped us find the support we needed to put the financial plan in place to move forward. We are now at the juncture of turning these goals into reality and find ourselves reaching out to SBDC on a regular basis for advice along the way. It's fantastic to find such a wealth of knowledge and support in our local SBDC office!"
Entrepreneurial energy and creativity are behind everything Teresa and Dave do. They are committed to growing their business and growing Silver City.
Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery will be recognized February 4 at the State Legislature along with Star Clients from the 19 other SBDCs around the state. Teresa and David, along with the other special clients from around the state, will be honored by SBDC with a reception the previous evening. This is an opportunity to give special recognition to those entrepreneurs who have been helped by SBDC business counselors and have gone on to success in their business.
Visit the SBDC Web site at www.nmsbdc.org/silver-city to see pictures of the Little Toad, as well as information about the SBDC.
Other businesses in the area that have been recognized as SBDC Star Clients include Curl Up and Dye, Bear Mountain Lodge, Morones & Knuttinen, Sunset Visa, and Curious Kumquat.
An archive of SBDC Business Reports can be found at http://www.grantcountybeat.com/index.php/archived-items
Business advisors at the Small Business Development Center can help you write your business plan, or work with you on any other issues or problems an entrepreneur may encounter in starting a business or expanding an existing one. These services are offered at no cost. Call 538-6320 for an appointment or for more information, or email sbdc@wnmu.edu .