#163 - From Pilot Spouse to Café Owner with Brenda Gage
About this episode
Brenda Gage shares her journey from being a pilot spouse to owning a successful chain of cafés, discussing business acquisition and employee management.
Join us on October 8–9, 2026, at the M Resort and Casino in Las Vegas for the first-ever Passive Income Pilots Conference . Learn how to build smarter wealth beyond the cockpit - https://www.passiveincomepilots.com/pip-conference A practical path to business ownership. Tait Duryea and Ryan Gibson sit down with Brenda Gage, a pilot spouse who turned a long-time goal of business ownership into a growing café portfolio. Brenda shares how she found established, cash-flowing businesses, evaluated opportunities on BizBuySell, used SBA financing, and pushed through lender rejections. She also explains why culture, employee retention, and a respectful seller transition matter just as much as the numbers. This episode offers a grounded look at acquiring a business beyond franchises or real estate. Brenda Gage is the owner of a growing chain of Washington cafés and Larson’s Bakery. Married to an Alaska Airlines pilot, she built a flexible career around family life before acquiring eight cafés through SBA financing. In three years, she helped grow annual revenue from approximately $16.7 million to $21 million. Brenda shares practical insights on finding established businesses, securing the…
More episodes of Passive Income Pilots
- #166 - Fly-Inn Rentals for Pilots and Investors with Carollyne Carmichel & Kenya Hodson
- #165 - Flight Decks, Financial Freedom, and the Pilot Community with Dylan and Max of 21.Five
- #164 - LLCs, Trusts, and Asset Protection for Pilots with Adam Kintigh
- #162 - The 2026 Airline Pilot Career Outlook with Kit Darby
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Passive Income Pilots podcast page.