Entrepreneur off to good start

I was going to poke fun at Mark Gatta in this space. Then I met him.

He impressed me. At just 25 years old, an age when a lot of his peers are still trying to find themselves, Gatta, a lifelong resident of Bensalem, has started his own business.

And more than that, he's dedicated himself to making it work. Day in, day out, 7 a.m. until about 9:30 p.m. Whatever it takes. And with a smile on his face.

"Failure's really not an option," he said.

His mamma must be proud.

God knows she's been supportive. Anna and Peter Gatta have helped their son by providing some investment cash, elbow grease, advice when it's asked for and, best of all, their belief in him.

"Family is the most important thing," Mark Gatta tells me.

As for the business, he says he wouldn't mind getting rich from it. Mostly, though, he just wants to be happy. If he can make other people happy along the way, well, then that would be most excellent.

Gatta has opened a combination coffee bar/tanning salon called Express-o-Tan.

That's where the poking fun comes in. I thought I'd be cute and open this column with a crack about how I found a place where you can get your caffeine fix and your skin cancer in one stop.

But Gatta, with his shaved head, piercing eyes and a hell of a tan, is so darned earnest about how he makes his living it didn't feel right.

He walks me around the salon in the little strip center at Hulmeville and Galloway roads in Bensalem and points out the safe tanning certification he and his crew have. He talks about educating customers. He says he's purchased the best equipment and tanning supplies - John Abate, California Tan, Designer Skin.

He shows off the acrylic pillows that allow you to tan the back of your neck and head. He explains how the special facial lamps work. He makes me watch him sanitize a tanning bed after a customer is finished.

"This is really important," he tells me.

Important, but boring to a non-tanner, I want to tell him, but I don't.

He's so into what he's doing. So intent on putting his best business foot forward. Maybe it's his age. Too young to be bored or jaded.

Gatta's silly slogan is definitely a function of his age. Made me laugh.

"We'll roast your beans while you roast your buns."

The high school crowd, to whom he offers a 20 percent discount, will get a kick out of it.

So how did Gatta get to Express-o-Tan from Bensalem High?

First a marketing degree from Temple. Then a job with a big electronics retail chain, then managing the Spirit of Philadelphia bar. Then back to the electronics chain to manage one of its bigger stores. He had some success wherever he was, but he just couldn't shake the notion he could do more.

He'd always played around with the idea of owning a tanning salon. He started tanning as a teen. He gave into vanity as he prepared for the senior prom, just like a lot of other kids. He got hooked.

He also started to think he could run a salon a lot better than the salons he was going to.

Those were too hurried, too impersonal, too expensive.

The coffee bar in the front of his salon today isn't so much a moneymaker, he said, as it is a way to cozy up the place. No fancy teacakes and scones here. Tastykakes and ice cream bars say this is a coffee bar run by a man's man. Sit down, relax.

Gatta said he wanted to create a spot where people would come in to take a load off, chat, then plunk their cash down to fry under one of the six 40-lamp Sun Ergoline beds he's invested in.

That's what friend Dino Gatsoulas, 35, was doing Tuesday afternoon.

A towering man at 6 feet 4 inches, he looked out of place to me sitting at the little caf‚ table waiting for Gatta to put him into a tanning bed.

Gatta said a lot of guys tan.

Gatsoulas, who sipped an express-o-caramello with whipped cream after his session, said tanning relaxes him "big time." The resulting bronze is just "icing on the cake."

The cake is about 200 pounds lighter thanks to stomach stapling, he said, and despite the whipped cream. Gatsoulas is enjoying the new pride in his looks. Hence the tan.

He tells me he ices himself with a lotion called "Rock Star" before hitting the lamps. He drew the line with the lotion named "Drama Queen."

But he did put a bunny sticker on his abdomen to see how well he's browning. His wife made fun of him.

I wanted to poke fun at Gatsoulas, too. But he was too big. And I didn't want to tick off Gatta.

Gatsoulas is not just a customer at Express-o-Tan. He's a local disc jockey and a friend who created the music CDs Gatta pipes into the beds.

Gatta says he's gotten all kinds of help like that.

His mom, who owns a gift shop in Bristol Borough, is teaching him the retail ropes. His dad helped him construct the salon interior. His big brother, an art director, and his sister-in-law, Joe and Karen Gatta from Langhorne, have designed his logo, menus, business cards and interior color scheme.

When Gatta gets nervous about how much he's bitten off, his brother, whom Gatta has always looked up to - and competed with a little - tells him he's "gonna kick ass. Not to worry." That's been more valuable than the artwork.

The best advice he's gotten from his mom?

"You can't dance at two weddings" - put your social life on hold for a little bit and commit to this business thing.

That's what Gatta's doing.

So, anyway, I went out to meet Mark Gatta because his business idea sounded goofy.

I came away admiring him.

I'm nowhere near convinced tanning makes a damn bit of sense, but I am thinking I'll stop into the salon from time to time for an express-o-mocha and just to see how this earnest guy is making out.

Looks like he's off to a good start. He's young and driven and he has a whole bunch of family and friends rooting for him.

On some levels, he's already succeeded big time.