Two Reno + Sparks, NV, Business Owners Share Their Success Stories

Sam Bearden/Ab Photo Reno

As a continuously growing region, the Reno-Sparks area boasts successful businesses in about every industry imaginable. Many of these businesses rely on the Reno + Sparks Chamber of Commerce to stay updated on the business community, access support and resources, and network with other business owners. Ahead, learn about two Chamber members and their prosperous businesses. 

Sierra Family Pharmacies 

David and Terry Vasenden own Sierra Family Pharmacies, which has two locations serving northern Nevada. These include the Sierra Compounding Pharmacy, which focuses on custom medication, and the Sierra Specialty Pharmacy, which is a long-term care pharmacy that serves assisted living facilities, group homes and hospice patients. 

“Our tagline is that you are a person, not a prescription,” says Julie Bendinelli, a pharmacy employee who assists with communication and social media. “You come in, and our pharmacy staff get to know you. Our employees stick around for years and years.” 

David has been a practicing pharmacist for 35 years and represents his family’s third generation in the profession. He takes pride in the art of compounding, a skill that enables pharmacists to provide special formulations using individual ingredients. This allows continuous service to customers even when commercially stocked items run low or when a doctor prescribes a specialty drug or an ointment. 

“Our staff gets to know customers’ medical situations and meets their particular needs,” Bendinelli says. 

Bendinelli further shares that as an advocate for this rare service, David once addressed Congress about its importance. 

Terry also plays a big role in the family business. She is the face that will often greet customers as they fill prescriptions or shop for health supplements and other items. She also helps oversee the company’s 35 employees. 

Little Wild

Roundabout Catering & Party Rentals 

A generation ago, the most memorable dining experience in the region might have been a $2.99 breakfast at a local diner, says restaurateur Colin Smith, but that’s not the case today. 

The city has become a diner’s delight, and some of that turnaround can be traced back to Smith, a trained chef who opened his first Reno restaurant in 1994. 

After a brief visit to the city, the San Francisco native decided to stay after spotting a for-sale sign in the window of a local restaurant. 

“I’d been a chef all my life. I’ve owned four or five restaurants,” says Smith, who seized the opportunity in Reno after several years of working in some of the Bay Area’s top restaurants. 

Over the next decade, Smith followed his initial Reno investment with a bevy of business openings. He and his wife, MaryBeth, are now proprietors of Roundabout Catering  & Party Rentals, which offers catering services for special events and corporate gatherings in and around the Reno-Sparks area. The firm also operates several venues where those events might take place, such as Tannenbaum, a lodge-style wedding and event center with breathtaking mountain views, and the Café at the Nevada Museum of Art. Sideline businesses include party rentals and Franco Baking Co.

Smith says the region’s proximity to Lake Tahoe and all its attractions has created a growing economic engine for many businesses in the region, including his. Demand for high-end catering, hosting and personal dining services has increased over the past few years. 

The Reno-Sparks region has been good to the Smith family, and in return, they work hard to give back. For example, they co-founded the Big Chefs, Big Gala event for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada, an event to raise money to help support the organization’s mission. Plus, they serve on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of Truckee Meadows.