Bridge Loan Helps Tampa-based Staffing Company
The Staffing Resource Group, Inc. of Tampa
The Staffing Resource Group, Inc., founded in July 2007, is a staffing and recruiting agency with corporate headquarters in Westshore. SRG partners with companies searching for the right candidates, and with job seekers looking for the right position. It specializes in the Department of Defense and pharmaceutical industries.
Companies like SRG, that rely on other businesses to operate, were all affected before, during and after Hurricane Irma swept through the area. With jobs canceled and cash flow affected, owners Britt Massing and Matthew Spanke, were looking for a solution that would bridge the gap. They reached out to the Florida SBDC at University of South Florida, to obtain assistance in applying for a State of Florida Emergency Bridge Loan. This loan is an interest-free, six-month loan to help owners in need of disaster assistance.
When asked about their experience with the storm and the assistance received at the Florida SBDC at USF, they recalled:
What type of damage occurred?
A high concentration of our temporary workforce – contractors – work on billing or “COBs” work in Florida. Many of them working at client sites in South Florida, near Miami as well as in the Tampa Bay area. As a result of Hurricane Irma, SRG’s revenue and gross margin was significantly impacted during the two weeks following this unfortunate event. In short, when our COBs are not able to work, we are not able to bill our clients. SRG experienced a two week cash shortage and has not been able to yet recover from it. The biggest thing was the time leading up to the storm, during the storm and after the storm, and even now, we have people who are not back to work. During that time we’re paid for hours worked so when people weren’t working, revenues for those weeks dropped considerably. Payments that are coming in now are for clients from weeks where we billed much less than we normally do.
How will the Bridge Loan help?
Hurricane Irma came at a bad time for SRG as the third quarter is usually our best quarter and sets us up to withstand some of the slowdown that typically occurs in quarter four. Due to Irma, many of our contractors on billing could not work for several weeks setting us back significantly from a cash flow standpoint. This Bridge loan will be critical to helping SRG navigate quarter four and set us up for better success as we start the new year. It’s going to be extremely helpful because we’re going to be able to get all of our bills paid, get all of our contractors paid and it’s going to get us to the next level to where everybody’s back to work and we’re billing full amounts and we’re back on track.
How was the Florida SBDC at USF helpful during this process?
Throughout the entire process, the SBDC was extremely helpful to SRG. Special thanks to Selma Canas who walked us through the process and provided updates along the way. We cannot thank the SBDC enough for their assistance. Working with Selma and the SBDC has been a very smooth process. She was helpful throughout and couldn’t have made it any more seamless. This is a great resource.
