Toyoko Joe's

I like to read a millionaire's story about every day or every other day. One in particular that I enjoyed reading was Larry Leith, owner/founder of Toyko's Joe, in Denver, Co.

Stats:
Owner: Larry Leith
Resturant: Toyoko's Joe
Vision: Casual, affordable, and healthy Japanese food.
Niche: A twist to the Japanese cusine. The promise of an American take on Japanese food for the average Joe.
Inspiration: Cookbook named 'Toyoko Joe's'
Owner's back ground: No former training/knowledge; he took a non-paying, 3 month apprenticesip at a local Japanese restaurant.
2008 Revenue: $22 million
Date of start up: 1996

I extracted the following from reading this article in Inc. July/Aug 2009issue:

1) Invest the hours. Larry was at work at 5:00am and staying until 11:00pm. He was investing the time needed to get a business up and started.
2) Personal touch-owner personally greeted each customer by name or knew what they ordered.
3) Franchised if you are profitable and can take the risk.
4) Owner's email is printed on all cups. He responds personally to every comment, compliment, or complaint within 48 hours.
5) Owner pays his managers a high salary with benefits. He invites every one of them to spend a summer with his family in Maui. Sweet.
6) He was quoted as saying "Be extremely good to your employees, and they'll be a lot better to your customers".

And if Larry is reading this..Thumbs up to thinking big and taking the risks/guts to franchise in your first year out! Next time I'm in Denver, I will have to bowl of steak noodle bowl.