Redevelop That!
Redevelop That!
Patricia’s Leap From Ledgers To Loaves
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A healthier drive-thru shouldn’t be a fantasy. We sit down with Patricia Pimentel—former accountant, seasoned project manager, and the founder behind Chez Panise—to explore how clean ingredients, smart operations, and community support can reinvent fast food without losing speed or joy. Patricia shares the turning point that pushed her from spreadsheets to slider buns, the Saturday classes with SBA and SCORE that sharpened her plan, and the Small Business Development Center guidance that helped her tackle branding, marketing, and operations with confidence.
You’ll hear the strategy behind her compact first location—about 1,000 to 1,200 square feet with a counter and drive-thru—and why starting small helps her protect quality and freshness. We dive into her mix-and-match lunch and dinner boxes: one or two wholesome sliders, six rotating sides, a low-sugar cupcake, and a beverage, all rooted in simple, recognizable ingredients. On the bakery side, Patricia keeps it honest with seven-ingredient buns, cookies by the bag or pound, and the irresistible “cake after dark” idea for evening dessert runs. This is comfort food with clear labels, guided by years of cooking for children with severe allergies and a commitment to ditching unnecessary additives.
We also get real about the hard parts: competing for scarce drive-thru sites, navigating licensing, building permits, and zoning, and rebuilding a small business ecosystem that took hits during the pandemic. With help from city teams and a proactive approach, Patricia shows how founders can move faster and avoid costly detours. If you care about independent restaurants, better everyday meals, or you know a perfect East Henderson location with a drive-thru, this is your chance to lean in and help shape something special.
If this conversation resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who loves good food, and leave a quick review. Your notes help more listeners find stories that spark better ideas—and better meals.
Welcome back. Here with Derek and Tiffany.
SPEAKER_01Hello, everybody. Welcome back.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for uh joining us again. Hopefully, you enjoyed our last uh last episode with Paul Beaton and learn a little bit more about uh the city's internal workings with business licensing and all the wonderful uh things that they do and to make sure that our businesses stay up and running. He has uh he was a wealth of knowledge and we're glad to have it, glad we had him on. And uh so hopefully if you've run into any issues, you've been able to reach out and uh connect with business licensing in some form of fashion.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm excited for our inner look into the different um departments within the city.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we got a few more coming up with planning and uh building departments, so that'll be uh to check back. Listen in. It'll be uh fun, fun some fun interviews with some uh individuals and other co-workers here in the city that we uh that we get to work with. So that'd be a great opportunity. But uh just you know, quickly before we get into today's episode, uh we had the opportunity to sit down with uh Patricia Pimentel. She owns uh a cafe slash bakery called Shea Panese, who is actually looking for a place to set up shop and work.
SPEAKER_01And so we got to sample her baked goods too, and I'm hoping she sets up shop somewhere near us. Yes, we do.
SPEAKER_02She needs a drive-thru. That's what she needs is a drive-thru.
SPEAKER_01So we all need her in our lives.
Upcoming Events On Water Street
SPEAKER_02So uh we were able to sit down with her. So, but before we get to that part, is there anything coming up here that we have in the next few weeks or before uh we're getting into the holiday seasons with uh Thanksgiving's right around the corner, and uh then we've got the holl Christmas holidays and we still have some exciting events on the horizon.
SPEAKER_01Um we have the F1 watch party coming up a little later this month. Um we have Shop Small Saturday in the Water Street District, which will be uh most of our businesses along Water Street. We'll have specials and promotions running all day. We'll have over a hundred um small business vendors, crafters, artisans in the Water Street Plaza, and then we have uh coupon books with free giveaways. There's activities for the kids, there's Santa will be visiting us. It's gonna be a great day. And that's the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say, so that's uh that's the 29th. 29th, okay. November 29th. It's shop small. Yes, it's always a great event.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, not just shop, dine, dine local. Yeah, come grab your coffee local, you know, support our small businesses.
SPEAKER_02Remember our invitation, come check out Water Street, right? Yes, come check out.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna love local. You're gonna love Water Street.
SPEAKER_02There's uh always something new happening down here. So we have a lot coming up in Shop Small, and we do the F1 watch party will be will be exciting and fun.
SPEAKER_01And then after that we'll have the winterfest, the tree lining and drone show, and then the next night the night parade.
SPEAKER_02That's on December 4th and 5th.
SPEAKER_01Yep, that's the first weekend in December.
Interview Setup: Meet Patricia
SPEAKER_02That'll be uh be a always a that's always a fun event, fun activity to come out. So a lot of fun, a lot of good coming on. Uh a lot happening here on downtown and within our east side redevelopment areas. We got Boulder Highway still under construction. Hopefully it's not too much of a pain or thorn in your side if you have to travel down Boulder Highway. But uh it's looking better, it's coming, you know, it's getting there. Uh so but there's a lot happening and a lot of uh lot of updates coming around. So keep checking back and we'll keep sharing what uh what we know uh with what's coming. But for now, let's go ahead and uh sit back, relax, and listen in on our conversation with Patricia with Shea Panice. Welcome back to Redevelop That here today. We are welcome. Uh we have the great opportunity to have Patrice Pimentel. Welcome.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Happy to be here.
From Accounting To Entrepreneurship
SPEAKER_02Thanks for uh agreeing to come on to the show and uh sit down with us for a little bit. So Patrice has a a restaurant that uh is close, hopefully, one day of opening, right? Yes. Uh here in Henderson, and uh we wanted to take the time to sit down with her and uh hear her story. So so you okay, tell me a little bit about your restaurant. So the name is Shea Panisse. She Panisse. Shea Panice, okay. So tell us a little bit about Shea Panisse and what's your uh what's your idea here?
SPEAKER_00So Shea Panisse is a concept that I've been thinking about for a couple of years when I got that first entrepreneurial itch. Um, you know, a lot of us foodies dream about you know the kind of place that we'd like to go eat. Um and so Shea Panese is is intended to be a quick service restaurant with drive-thru and counter service, but the concept is about wholesome food, low-ingredient food, um free of you know artificial colors, additives, you know, anything that isn't, you know, we're really not meant to eat.
SPEAKER_02So okay, I'm gonna jump back here a little bit in your story. Uh so where did you start? Because you're not always uh haven't always been in the restaurant business.
SPEAKER_00No, that's a great question. So um I was an accountant by degree and worked at accounting for uh a lot of years, had a good career there, and then most recently I worked in project management uh for finance and business transformation. So it's really a combination of those two skills that gave me some confidence that I can go off and do something completely different out of the box, right? Right. Opening a restaurant.
SPEAKER_02So, what gave you the idea to think about moving from the business world of accounting and project management and moving into uh a restaurant, bakery type uh establishment?
SPEAKER_00You know, it's um interesting. I know when my kids were going through school, they were always taught to, you know, follow their dream. If you follow your passion and your dream, you know, the rest of it will come along behind it. Very different from when I made my career choice, right? I I was always very strong in math in school and loved accounting and did that sort of work. But after doing it, you know, for 20, 25 years, you start to feel a little differently, like maybe there's an opportunity to do something else.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. That's a you know, sometimes you like you said, you get a little, you get in grooves, right? You get in grooves in your career and you you this is your this is comfortable and this is easy. Yeah. Uh but then uh yeah, to take that that leap is definitely a a big transition.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I it's a little bit of faith over fear at this point.
SPEAKER_02So what are some of the the you know, as you've made this transition, so you're you're clearly in the very beginning of it. You're still you're actually still trying to find a a space for your uh for your uh restaurant, um, cafe, bakery cafe, I should say. It's a bakery cafe. Um, you know, what has been some of the the challenges that you've faced in this transition?
Finding Help: SBA, SCORE, And SBDC
SPEAKER_00So going back to that entrepreneurial itch that started a couple of years ago, um I knew now that I had the skills, right, with those project management skills, and and I can certainly run it from a financial standpoint, but I realized that there was a lot of other things that I didn't know. And so I began to search um, you know, who might be able to help me along this journey. And I quickly found the Small Business Administration, and um they have a group called SCORE underneath them, right, which runs uh Saturday classes. And so every Saturday for about six, eight months, I sat in on a class. Oh wow, okay. Um I took a sheet of paper and on one side I said, here's what I can do, and here's what I don't know how to do and where I'll need help. And so through them, um, you know, I I really targeted a lot of other folks who could help me, you know, with the branding, the marketing, setting up the website, and that sort of thing. There's another organization, the Small Business Development Center, that have also been very instrumental in helping me get, you know, the knowledge and the resources that I need. So I have to give a nod to both of those organizations. Extremely great people that will sit down and spend whatever time you need with them, you know, to get the knowledge that's required.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, those are definitely great, uh, great organizations here in southern Nevada that uh that we have that sometimes a lot of people don't know, especially as a small business owner, they don't know is available. Those resources are available to them. Um, and so uh to be able to get that word out to them is definitely a you know a big step forward in that process. I I know as we meet with you know we meet with business owners or and we talk about, you know, well, how are you gonna market? How you gonna, you know, what's the that next step of getting your the word out? And sometimes they they give you this look of like, I don't know. I haven't figured that part out yet. Uh because you know your business really well. You know, you know, you know the bakery, you know the you know the cooking and part of it, but sometimes that business aspect of it is a whole new transition.
SPEAKER_00You know, and we're also going through this huge transition at this point to a lot of AI generated information. So excuse me, again, out of my box a little bit, but um those folks have that knowledge as well.
Site Search And First Location Vision
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's amazing uh that uh that they are keeping up on the technology aspect of it also. So uh maybe we'll talk a little bit about your business. What are you looking for? So you said you don't have a space yet, you're looking for a space here within Henderson. We would love, you know, we're hope we're working with you hopefully to find you a space. We want to keep you uh here on the east side of of town. But absolutely um, but I knew you're looking all over Henderson for space, and uh you know what is what kind of space are you looking for? And what are you you know, what are you envisioning for for your business?
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm gonna start small. And so my for my first location, again, it's that quick service type retail location where you can either drive through, come in and get counter service. We'll have a lot of bakery items. People like to see their baked items right before they make their selection. And so looking for something maybe about a thousand twelve hundred square feet, um, you know, if we are successful and you know, open that second location, maybe consider you know, a larger space with seating. Um, but starting small.
SPEAKER_02Excellent. So maybe transitioning from the space then to the actual menu is like you because I I you have some fairly uh progressive ideas, I will say, within the bakery and uh cafe market. I I would say that some uh some uh cool ideas, and you know we've been fortunate enough to be able to sample some of your uh your uh Ben your bakering goods, and so they were really good. And so we're uh we're excited to see it come. But maybe tell a little bit about the the concept of what you're looking at.
Menu Concept And Mix-And-Match Boxes
SPEAKER_00So really two sides of the kitchen, right? We've got the bakery side and then you know the the mix and match lunchbox or dinner box that I was talking about a little bit earlier. Um we have four types of sliders, six sides, and you know, it comes with you know whatever combination that you'd like to have. You can choose one or two sliders, you know, salads, a lot of really healthy um vegetable options. And then you also can choose a cupcake. We have three types of cupcakes. It's just meant to be that little bit of sweet that we're sometimes looking for after um you know, after lunch, just that little bit of treat. And then a beverage. So you could have a different lunch, you know, every day for several weeks, uh, just with that mix and match option. And then on the bakery side, right, we're gonna bake those little slider buns, um, seven ingredients, very, you know, healthy, good quality flour, um, you know, all good quality ingredients. And then, you know, on the bakery side too, we'll have, in addition to the cupcakes, we'll have, you know, cakes, uh cookies. Um, you can purchase them, you know, by the pound if you'd like cookies or just you know, a few in a bag, however you like to consume your sweets.
Cake After Dark And Low-Sugar Sweets
SPEAKER_02I don't know if I need a full pound, but uh it definitely goes a long definitely goes a long way. Well, and I know there's some additional concepts with uh with that, uh either uh with on the sweet side that I think is is very cool that you talked about a little bit of um uh what was it like after dark?
SPEAKER_00Cake after dark. Cake after dark. Yeah. So if you're looking for like these again are you know good quality, low ingredient, you know, bakery items. There's no preservatives, low sugar, because I think that's something that some people care about if they like very sweet things or lower sugar. So we're low sugar. Um but that drive-thru is open if you want just a piece of dessert in the evening, just pick up a piece of chocolate cake or key lime pie, you know, whatever it is that you like, you can just drive through and pick one of those up.
SPEAKER_02I like that idea. Always thinking about where should I go to get something? And I was like, oh, there's no place really good to go. Uh but and I guess you know, kind of with that, with your menu and kind of your your concept here is that you you touched on a little bit about the ingredients and it's like, you know, yeah, and uh not necessarily having a lot of the additives and preservatives in in uh in your baking and um cooking. You know, what drive what drove you kind of down that road, that path of going in that direction?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I had two children with severe food allergies, and I quickly started reading food labels, you know, when they were little, and realized that a lot of those additives and ingredients that are in your food are really unhealthy. Um and so we've had a pretty clean kitchen in our home, you know, for a lot of years. And, you know, if you're not planning on leaving something, you know, in your refrigerator on the counter for a couple of weeks, you really don't need, you know, those additives. And so the concept is, you know, our products have to be refrigerated, right? They don't have preservatives, but they're meant to be consumed, you know, shortly after you purchase them.
SPEAKER_02You would hope so, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02If I got a cookie on the counter, I'm not it's not gonna sit there for very long, yeah, is the hope. But yeah, I was reading a little bit about your history and kind of some of your background uh on your website, uh, which is amazingly it's an amazing website. You got that, it looks nice. Uh shows everything really nicely. And uh, but the kind of a little bit of your history there is like is kind of where I think it looked like or it sounded like from that from your background that kind of where some of the cooking and baking aspect come from came from was from your your family and from your mother.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes, yes. It all starts right in the family kitchen at home when you're growing up. So um, you know, from a large family, I'm the youngest of seven children. So my mom was pretty much always in the kitchen. Um, and so yeah, it was just that gathering place. There's just a lot of comfort in being in a kitchen and being around people that you love.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's actually pretty interesting that I've uh uh I was talking to my father and we were talking about my grandmother, his mother, and you know, she had uh an affinity for cooking also that and not if it was a generational thing that uh that she just spent the time in the kitchen and she cooked and she and we uh we joked because she never sat down and actually we never actually saw her sit down and eat. It always seemed like she was in the kitchen preparing for something for the next uh next course or next uh next meal. And so we were always we always kind of teased her, but uh, but she always had great cooking, and so we're always like, okay, we need all her recipes when she when it's uh when it's time.
SPEAKER_00That's very relatable to my experience as well.
Market Research And Healthier Fast Food
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So it's uh an amazing opportunity to be able to carry that tradition on a little bit. I think in some ways we've we've lost some of that uh uh you know craftsmanship and cooking and care and the what we cook and prepare, that you know it's kind of nice to bring back that kind of home cooked meal aspect and prepared.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I did quite a bit of market research um to make sure that I was on the right track with my my concept. And um there are a lot of folks that are looking for a healthier version of fast food. We know that you know probably 80% of Americans get fast food once a week. Um, and so there's a great opportunity, I think, to service those folks that are looking for that healthier version.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, definitely. So I mean, um you've uh definitely done done a lot of research, done your background, you know, done your uh due diligence in this process uh of going out of at least on the business side and kind of understanding who your market is and who your customers are going to be and you know where you, you know, typically where you want to be with regards to the aspect of how did you come, you know, how did you come about like creating the menu itself, the food? You know, I know we talked a little bit about that. You've done taste testings and you've done, you know, you you clearly have cooked all these things and have tested them out in the market. Yeah. Have you done catering type of work or a little bit.
SPEAKER_00And uh, you know, again, as a working person, I I wasn't really looking to, you know, just start baking cookies out of my kitchen. Um, and so but yeah, I I'm doing things for folks that are asking for it right now. As soon as I get that location, I can you know start taking catering orders, that sort of thing. Okay. Once I'm up and running. But at this point I'm not really not doing a lot of it.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I was just I was like, oh, can we hire you? Not yet though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, you know, delivering a slider, it just kind of loses something. Like I said, it's meant to be purchased and then consumed. You know, those things don't just sit well for for a long time.
Catering, Freshness, And Operational Limits
SPEAKER_02No, absolutely. No, well, that's amazing. Well, I appreciate your your story and your background. I don't know if there's anything else you would like wanted to share or get out there for the world to to hear, but it sounds like you've done, you know, the resources that you've been able to take a uh you know, take advantage of um with SBA and SCORE and you know those other um SP did you say SPD? S P D C SPDC, yeah. Um, you know, those are definitely I as I mentioned, those are great resources for here within southern Nevada and uh for any business owner to really be able to sit down and come up with that business plan and you know start modeling out what's that next step, you know, and where to where do I go from here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, great resources if anyone's looking for support with their business, not only pre-opening but post-opening. Tremendous people there to help.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And uh that's uh yeah, a lot of that gets lost, I think, in um when when a business opens, they're like sometimes they feel like they're just left alone and nowhere to go and uh no resources to turn to. So that's amazing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think the only thing I can add is you know, my website's up. It's shape anise, ch A N I S E dot com.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
Community Ties And The Drive-Thru Hunt
SPEAKER_00Um if you want to drop a note in there. If you haven't, you know, any um idea of a location, I am targeting East Henderson, I'll go west a little bit, but I do want to stay in my neighborhood. I've been here 20 years, this is my community. Um but you know, if anybody has thoughts about you know finding a location, I've got real estate agents looking, and of course, all of the support from the city of Henderson, you guys have been tremendous in helping as well. Um it's very hard to find you know a location that either has a drive-thru or can support a drive-thru. I'm I'm happy to add that um, you know, if I have the right location. Um, but I I quickly learned that I'm competing with a lot of the fast food chains that build their locations and then they stay there and they don't leave. Yeah. And so, you know, trying to find something as unique as this is difficult. Um, but I'm ready. I'm ready to roll.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, we're definitely uh do what we can to help you find a space, and we you know, we we love to see uh new businesses move in and uh new experiences. Sometimes I, you know, I think uh sometimes what I like about Water Street a little bit is we don't have a lot of those kind of those chain type businesses. We have a lot of kind of the the unique uh one-offs that um small business, you know, just mom and pop type shops that are opened up and it makes for a very unique atmosphere and uh something is different uh than what we see day to day kind of around the around the city.
SPEAKER_00So that's we definitely need more. I mean, I think a lot of small businesses closed during the pandemic, is what I've learned.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so you know, rebuilding that small business community again is is challenging.
City Processes: Licensing, Permits, Zoning
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It definitely has been uh a slow growth back to to try to get back to where you know where we hope to be in the future. So that's great. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with us and uh we really appreciate you coming and meeting and getting uh getting the word out about your business and hearing your story. I I love the the you know the the story of making that transition of from you know, because I think a lot of us have that kind of uh that kind of idea. I know my kids, it's funny that I do cooking at home and you know it's like cook very remedial type food, nothing very too fancy, but my kids are like, Yeah, you should open a restaurant. I'm like, I do not need to open a restaurant. I was like, that's not uh that is not in my wheelhouse, but uh but that I know that it's a scary uh proposition to make that transition of you know, do I have the skills to be able to make it and to do it? And it definitely appears and looks like you you have uh uh are close to being successful in making that transition.
SPEAKER_00So thank you so much. Thank you for having me. And and again, I couldn't have done this with all the support that I've had. And they continue, you know, they're there once I said, like once I open, they don't go away. Um, I'll continue to you know receive support and you know that um good feedback about you know how marketing is going and all that sort of thing. I've got a lot of support. So I'm I'm ready to go. I just need that one.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, just so you know, because we're uh we're actually part of our part of our interviews, we're actually starting to interview some of our city uh city co-workers from business licensing and from the building department and from planning, you know, because those are you know some of those uh additional steps that uh that business owners have to go through that they don't always know. They get all you know, they'll get all the way to almost opening and realize like, oh, I need a business license, oh I need this, this, and this. And you're like, oh man. So we're uh we started a series to kind of get the word out about you know what you know what it takes for a business to to go through that process of getting a business license, of maybe getting building permits to to have to get the build-out, you know, tenant improvements done, and or going through the zoning department to make sure that where you're locating is properly zoned for what you want to do. So that's always uh another aspect from the city side that we try to, we as a redevelopment agent, we try to minimize that impact and try to reduce the you know that stress level uh as much as possible to help uh help that business get open and running.
SPEAKER_00So well, I look forward to working with all those folks. I know they're in my future.
Closing Reflections And How To Connect
Post-Interview Recap And Listener CTA
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well uh just let us know and we'll uh we'll make the contact for you so you know who to talk to. So thank you again. Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it. Welcome back from that wonderful interview with Patricia. We're grateful for her for taking the time to sit down with us and let us hear her story about how she went from being an accountant to becoming a chef and a bakery. So it was kind of uh uh interesting uh transition in uh in a career path uh that hopefully you found interesting.
SPEAKER_01And uh I can't wait till her business model is up and running. Yeah. So if any of you listening happen to know of available space that suits her needs, please reach out so we can connect you.
SPEAKER_02Yep, absolutely. We are on the on the look for her to find a place that has a drive-thru so you can drive through and get your uh cake at night, late night uh cake running or dessert.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_02So it was awesome. Yeah, it was uh she has some good uh some good pastries, some good cookies, some good yeah, a lot of good things we got to taste. So we are grateful for her for sitting down with us and letting us hear her story and get it out there for you. So yeah, keep let us know if you find something. Uh remember, you can reach out to us uh either our website at city of Henderson.com slash redevelop that or you can go to my email at Derek.alyn at cityofhenderson.com. That's D E R E K dot A-L-L-E-N at City of Henderson.com.
SPEAKER_01And if you have an interesting business story, if you've got some insight you'd like to share with fellow business owners, reach out to us also. We'll schedule you as a future guest on the podcast.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we'd love to have you on. We'd love to come see, come meet with you at your business and uh see how you're doing and what you're doing and what uh has made you successful in uh being a a business owner here in Henderson. So reach out, let us know. But with that, thanks for listening in. Thanks for checking out today's episode, and we look forward to future episodes. Check back again. Remember, we got uh some great uh content coming up from uh City of Henderson, uh from our uh departments here at the city and learn about planning and b uh the building permit processes here coming up. So check back. Until then, thanks. See you next time.
