My Story
It seems logical that that this
section should start out this way. I
will say as I begin writing this that I anticipate it will be one of the
less interesting pieces in this section, but let’s see how it develops.
I
opened my first food place in 1991 with one of my college roommates. Although he had some experience as a front of
the house manager, we were “seat of the pants guys” with this new
adventure. And as most partnerships go,
this one went. He got out early and I
was free to make all the decisions and mistakes without a counterargument.
Most of
the content that you will find in this section is based on my perceptions of
what happened over the next twenty plus years.
Included in this will be the opening up a second and different food
operation, the people encountered over the years, the lessons learned, and the
craziness witnessed and often experienced.
The
second place was developed with a collection of information gathered from the mistakes
and successes of the first two decades.
I had hoped that it would be a template for a few more outlets and would
be the next stage of my career.
After opening the second place I
faced a few major changes in the partnership earlier than anticipated (again)
and my health started to show signs of fatigue and stress. Although a theme starts to emerge here, I carried
on. My customers would ask me how things
were going and my standard response was “Pretty well, but I think the two
places are in cahoots and are trying to kill me.” Another example of my clairvoyance. I should have listened to myself.
I have
been documenting the details of that part of my life in another outlet but I
will tell you that my unattended (and unknown) blood pressure problems caused
my kidneys to fail (feel free to read all the health related stories at
caringbridge.org\johnvito). This caused
me to close the long standing place and try to hold onto the new one. That didn’t work well with my treatments 3
days a week.
In addition
to closing the stores my health issues have caused me to be very cautious about
my diet. They have also given me the time to pursue cooking food that may not
always be profitable in a business setting.
I have the time to experiment at home and to cook for friends. All the while I have been recalling the
antics of my own behavior and that of those around me, and here I will try to
entertain you with the high (and often low) points of those stories.
After
reading through this piece I can say with a great deal of confidence that the
rest of the stories will be much better in content. I cannot guarantee they will be better in
structure but I will work on that part.
