By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A St. Joseph native who has worked his way up through the restaurant industry finds himself back in St. Joseph, at least for one of his restaurants.
Scott Ford worked for Boston Market, Applebee’s, and Goodcents before becoming CEO of Hawaiian Bros, which recently opened in St. Joseph.
Ford says a key to Hawaiian Bros’ success is keeping things simple, which helps in a variety of ways, including with employees.
“So, when we’re training, we only have to explain six different items to our new trainees. When we are experiencing new guests, they only have six menu items to choose from,” Ford tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, speed and simplicity at the point of ordering is there.”
Hawaiian Bros has had incredible growth going from one restaurant to 50 in five years throughout the Midwest and Southwest. Now a $135 million business, it is heading toward $250 million.
Ford first learned the restaurant business working for his father at Ford’s Drive In on Lake Avenue. He says the lessons learned there have helped him throughout his career. Ford returned to St. Joseph to speak about his experiences during the Small Business Summit sponsored by the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce. He says it was good to be back.
“Really fun to see a lot of familiar faces, a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time. So, very excited to do that. Really appreciate the great turnout here and the support of the community for our restaurant. Very excited for that as well,” Ford says. “It was exciting.”
Ford says that one key to be successful in the restaurant business is to concentrate on your customers.
“If I was going to tell anybody, it’s very, very simple: every guest leaves happy. Every guest leaves happy,” Ford emphasizes. “It’s so much harder to go out and get new guests than it is to retain the ones you have and every time you add a new one you want it to grow your business.”
Ford says St. Joseph fits Hawaiian Bros’ profile, adding his personal tie to St. Joseph influenced the decision to locate here.