Fiscal fitness.

• Position: SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

PRESENTED by MOUNTAIN AMERICA CREDIT UNION

BACKGROUND

Last month, in the Utah Business magazine article entitled "Is Entrepreneurship for You?," Alex Lawrence, a visiting professor at Weber State University, placed special emphasis on the fact that increased access to capital and the availability of convenient financial tools are making it easier than ever for entrepreneurs to follow their dreams. Many years ago, these exact factors led Elizabeth's Catering to work with Mountain America Credit Union.

When Ken Copeland, current general manager of Elizabeth's Catering, moved from Delaware to Utah as an adolescent 20 years ago, his parents, Elizabeth and Richard, decided to open a small sandwich shop. Like other entrepreneurs, the Copelands needed financial resources in order to get started and turned to Mountain America for assistance. Ken has been an important part of the family business as it has grown from a small sandwich shop to one of Utah's top 10 full-service catering businesses. Today, Mountain America continues to support Elizabeth's Catering with business accounts, corporate Visa[R] Cards, wire transfers and access to Small Business Administration (SBA) loans.

"Mountain America is local and willing to help me with concerns," Copeland says. "I've watched them grow from a few locations downtown to multiple branches throughout Utah and beyond, and the employees have been loyal throughout the years."

THE SITUATION

With solid financial resources in place, the sandwich shop was tremendously successful. In 1998, they converted the sandwich shop to a full-time catering business, eventually taking on the name Elizabeth's Catering and expanding its services to include company picnics, weddings and large holiday parties--from box lunches to black-tie events. Actually, Mountain America was the very first client of Elizabeth's Catering and they have catered the credit union's Board dinners since 1995.

Within a few years, Elizabeth's Catering once again wanted to expand its service offering. In addition to its growing volume of...