Yusuf Topal was born and raised in Turkey. He joined the cruise line industry in 2001 and worked there until 2009 when he married his wife. Together, the two moved to Napa, California where Yusuf overcame huge challenges to start Tarla Grill, a successful Mediterranean restaurant.
Yusuf Topal was born in Gaziantep, Turkey and raised in the capital Istanbul. After graduating from a hotel and management school, he started working for a celebrity cruise line in 2001. Yusuf started out as a buffet attendant but was quickly promoted to busboy. A year later, he landed himself a management position.
In 2007, Yusuf met his wife whom he dated for two years. Then in 2009, after close to nine years in the cruise line industry, he decided to live the rest of his life on land with his newfound love. They got married and moved to Napa, California (where his wife is from) to start their new journey.
After leaving the cruise line industry, Yusuf dreamt of owning his own business – a restaurant in particular. “I am best at the restaurant business – I know it inside and outside”, he told Timely Visit.
However, the times were not on his side - when Yusuf and his wife moved to the US, it was not really the best time to start a business because of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Yusuf nevertheless continued to do his homework about Napa and how the restaurant business worked in the US. Meanwhile, he worked at a restaurant in San Francisco.
Location, location, location
In 2010, he found a location in downtown Napa that really excited him. However, after doing further research and consulting some professionals, he realized it wasn’t a good fit for a restaurant.
Then in 2011, Yusuf finally found a great location, signed a lease for 10 years plus 2 x 5 year options and was finally ready to start work on his own restaurant, Tarla Grill. “I signed a long term lease because I believed in the location and Napa in general. My feelings were very strong,” he said.
“Location is a very important factor when you decide to open a business,”
he added.“I believe that in the food business, location is responsible for 50 per cent of your success. However, you obviously can’t rely on location alone, the quality of your food and your business model matter too.”
Facing and overcoming a great hurdle
Yusuf revealed to Timely Visit that his biggest challenge in opening Tarla Grill was securing financing. “As I mentioned earlier, I moved to the US in 2009 and not being from this country was my first challenge because I did not have any credit history with which to do business.”
“I learned my lesson a little late that a credit card is really what builds your credit here in the US. I applied for a credit card and built my credit history but after a year, it still wasn’t good enough to do business or get a loan from a bank,” he further revealed.
Yusuf planned to use the cash he had saved up as well as some credit cards from his wife, who supported his idea right from the beginning, as start-up capital for his restaurant.
He called nine contractors to come give him an estimate for the project. The highest estimate was $230,000. Yusuf and his wife got all the drawings and design done, confident that that they could complete the project with the money they had between them.
It was not until they consulted contractors once again, this time with their drawings and design on hand, that they realized that the money they had would never be enough. The cheapest bid they received was just over $500,000 – more than twice the highest estimate they had received.
However, Yusuf was still determined to start his restaurant in Napa. He decided to look for a loan.
This is where he met his biggest hurdle - no single bank was willing to lend him the money he needed. Bank after bank turned down his application for a loan.
Yusuf was on the verge of giving up when he was referred by the Napa Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) to SAFE-BIDCO, an SBA guaranteed lender based in Santa Rosa, California.
SAFE-BIDCO believed in Yusuf’s project, helped him get the right paperwork for his application over a period of about two months and eventually gave Yusuf the financing he so badly needed.
Finally enjoying the delicious taste of success
Yusuf says Tarla Grill is arguably the best Mediterranean restaurant in Napa. “Napa has great restaurants from all over the world but I believe we are the only true Mediterranean Restaurant here, and people were missing that for so many years.”
The restaurant was packed every single day right from day one and reeled in a huge profit in its first year – a feat Yusuf says it not very common for restaurants his’ size.
Revenue grew by over 20 per cent in the second year and Yusuf expanded the business by buying out his neighbor and adding 50 extra seats and a microbrewery to Tarla Grill.
In December 2013, Yusuf found another great location with his business partner Ali Yildirim, who is also his childhood best friend - the two grew up together and worked in the cruise line industry together. They opened Napkins Bar & Grill with 150 seats in the heart of Napa Valley.
On what is next for Tarla Grill, Yusuf told Timely Visit that he has moved very fast in the last three years, opening and running two businesses so he wants to wait for at least one year before he does anything else. After that, his goal is to open Tarla Grill in nine more locations all over the US.
What is behind Yusuf’s success?
Yusuf works very hard – plain and simple. “I work six days a week - I start every day no later than 10 a.m. and I am always the last one to leave the restaurant. I also work very closely with my team of employees, bookkeepers, distributors and business partners,” he disclosed.
He also attributes his success to Scott Huberts, Sheila Cargill and the rest of the SAFE-BIDCO team who guided him through getting all the right paperwork to secure the loan, as well as his landlord Jeff Doran who gave him some financial help too and has been an amazing landlord to him.
Yusuf is also very grateful for his business mentors, Charles Monahan and Ray Kimbal who helped him right from day one to get his business off the ground, helping him draw up a business plan, and still check in on his progress up to now.
What has Yusuf learned from running Tarla Grill?
Yusuf is a strong advocate of leveraging one’s business with Other People’s Money (OPM).
“Do not risk your own money if you can. The best way to grow is using the bank’s money; do not put all your cash into the business. If you can take a loan, take it. And always try to get a long term loan with low interest,” he advised.
“As a business owner, you have to remember one thing: you will always owe people if you want to grow. Even the richest people in the world owe money too!”
He also strongly encourages all entrepreneurs out there to work with their local Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) if they have one. “I am confident that you will find people as amazing as the ones I found at the Napa SBDC to help you.”
Yusuf was also keen to share his favorite quote:
“If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten.”
Tony Robbins.