SBA reaches out at Dullahan’s Irish Pub
One such business was Dullahan’s Irish Pub at 12744 Kingston Pike in Renaissance | Farragut.
“What brought us here today, basically, is we want to hear today from a bunch of small businesses of what federal regulations are hurting them and making it harder for them to do business — and seeing if there is a way we can help,” SBA regional administrator Tyler Teresa said.
“I think at the office of advocacy at SBA, our job is to talk to people that run small businesses and find out, A, where their regulations, rules or just processes cause them to have to use time or resources that take away from their ability to get their business up and running or successful,” said Michael Vallante, regional advocate for SBA’s Region 4. “It’s important because sometimes people in Washington, D.C. will make decisions about some things, not really understanding how it impacts Main Street U.S.A.
“I think President (Donald) Trump and the (U.S. SBA) administrator Kelly Loeffler are very, very cognizant of that, and that’s why they have people like Tyler and myself out in the field to talk to businesses and find out what really is impacting their bottom line,” he added.
Before arriving at Dullahan’s, the group attended a Roundtable meeting, during which they could engage with local businesses and federal agencies to discuss regulatory issues, at Apex Bank, 9721 Sherrill Blvd. in Knoxville.
“Our Round Table ran a little long, which was good because it meant that we had a great assortment of different kinds of businesses here, everything from manufacturing to hospitality, wine making, robotics,” Vallante said. “It was good to listen because they all have different and unique challenges that they face.
“And, getting their information of the things they have to face, in terms of the federal government, is something we can bring back to Washington and see how we can help make those things a little smoother for them,” he added.
“We had over 35 businesses, resource partners, members of organizations, from Senators’ offices, the congressman’s office — all in the (Round Table) meeting today — just to hear directly from them what’s happening here in East Tennessee and how we can help with SBA to make small businesses thrive,” Teresa said.
Vallante said the beauty of small business in Knoxville is they are so varied.
For example, “You know, we’ve got people in the robotics industry,” he said. “They are trying to develop and get a robotics industry going and more efficient. We’ve got a woman who opened her hospitality business, Ancient Lore, in 2021 in the middle of COVID, and they’ve been able to survive. But they’ve been able to identify for us a couple of things that we can take back and get fixed.
“What we find is a fine line between success and failure for small businesses is very thin, and anything we can do to help get government out of their way and help them will help make that line a little thicker,” he added.
