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Doreen
Pendgracs |
Business / Entrepreneurship Samples: Wow
Yourself … the First of Seven Guiding Principles of WOW! Hospitality
Concepts Over the past 30 years, he’s made the transition from waiter to manager to partner, franchisee, multi-location entrepreneur and president of WOW! Hospitality Concepts, a Winnipeg-based foodservice and theatrical production company with 500 staff at a variety of successful locations in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary. But that wasn’t the original plan.
I like to launch concepts and watch them grow It’s clear that Stephen gets enjoyment from everything he does. “I get a buzz out of creating something,” he says. “I like to launch concepts and watch them grow. I’m very fortunate in that my partner Jim (Armstrong: VP operations for WOW!) is an excellent operator and is very detailed. And my partner, Janet (Cunningham: VP finance for WOW!) is very detail oriented as well, in addition to being great with numbers – which I am not.” That’s part of the reason for Stephen’s success. He knows how to focus on what he does best. “Don’t try to be all things to all people,” he says. “Do what you do best. In each of our operations, we focus on providing the best in a certain class. Our steakhouse (529) serves the best steaks; Muddy Waters is known for its ribs, Hu’s on First is best for Asian food, Pasta la Vista is more upscale Italian, whereas The Old Spaghetti Factory (Stephen is a franchisee) is known for tasty and affordable Italian-based cuisine.” In addition to keeping them well fed, Stephen is also involved in wowing guests who want to be entertained. He’s the managing partner of Finn McCue’s, an Irish pub with pool tables and live entertainment at The Forks, Winnipeg’s premiere tourist destination. And he and partner, Janet Cunningham are the general partners in Celebrations Dinner Theatre in Winnipeg as well as the Jubilations Dinner Theatre in Edmonton and the Jubilations Entertainment Complex in Calgary. They also serve as the executive producers for the shows. Wow! That’s quite the repertoire indeed. The newest venture for Stephen and partners at WOW! Hospitality Concepts is a recently-published cookbook highlighting secrets from the kitchens of its restaurants. “As my wife, Jackie (who serves as WOW’s marketing director) likes to say, ‘From our kitchens to yours.’ We’re really quite proud of it,” says Stephen. The book has been artistically produced by a local publisher and includes more than 60 beautifully photographed recipes. Cooking with WOW! has been well-received and early sales have been good across Western anada. But not everything that Stephen has touched has turned to gold. In 1996, his team developed the concept for an upscale restaurant to be operated from an expansive piece of rural property on the outskirts of Winnipeg. “It was seven acres of property and expensive to run,” says Stephen. “We didn’t own the land or building, but still found it difficult to maintain as the flow of customers diminished in winter due to the remote location.” Focus on what you do best and move on Green Gates was a popular location for Winnipeggers to marry or hold other special functions, but even Stephen’s WOW! concept couldn’t keep locales trudging through the ice and snow to reach the rural location during the long Manitoba winters. “We decided to close the restaurant in February of 2006,” he said. “We’d gotten into a bit of an identity crisis as some of the shareholders wanted it to be something it wasn’t. But it was a very valuable lesson for us in that it taught us that you may be able to do anything, but not as well as you might like. So focus on what you do best and move on.” Stephen is generous with the knowledge he learned during that 10-year-long exhilarating yet frustrating lesson of entrepreneurship. “It’s very important to establish – and stick to -- your operational strategies,” he says. “Always do your due diligence. And get the right people on your advisory committee.” Other than the odd bump along the road, the vast majority of his efforts have been successful and produced noteworthy results. In 1997, Stephen was named Entrepreneur of the Year (Prairie Region) for Consumer Goods & Services by Ernst & Young Chartered Accountants. And that same year he received the Pinnacle Award for Entrepreneur of the Year by Foodservice & Hospitality magazine. He has been chair of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservice Association and president of the provincial equivalent. Could there possibly be any time left for a personal life? “You be there is. I’m a real family man, and when I’m not working … I’m doing things with my family,” says Stephen, father of four who has found a renewed sense of happiness in his second marriage to wife, Jackie. “And I’m really pleased to say that my eldest son (who has been living abroad) is now home and working with Dad at the restaurants. He’s a front of the store kind of guy like me and I’m very proud of the work ethic he is showing.” Small-town work ethic Doug Stephen’s work ethic is that of working hard, but enjoying everything that you do. “I grew up in small-town Manitoba. And I truly believe that having a small-town background provides you with the kind of work ethic that has helped me (and my partners, who are also from small communities in Manitoba) succeed. It is ingrained in us,” he says. “The downside is that sometimes we aren’t as hard-edged in making business decisions as we should be. I’ve heard it said I’m too nice.” With two prestigious awards and a menagerie of personal and professional accomplishments under his belt, what’s next for this too-nice, but amazing entrepreneur? “There’s no slowing down for me yet,” says Stephen. “We’d like to take some of our concepts and see if they’re suitable for replication – particularly Pasta la Vista.” There’s no doubt that if it’s possible, Doug Stephen and the team at WOW! Hospitality Concepts will find a way to do it. Bringing out the best in everyone with the seven stars of Wow!
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“I come from a family of doctors,” says 52-year-old
Stephen. “So my family had big plans for me to gain
a formal education and take on a true profession.” Stephen
took a job as a waiter to get himself through university. “I
fell in love with the hospitality industry while studying
zoology. As I was working while studying, my grades weren’t
that great. So I decided to take a year off and I’m
pleased to say that 30 years later … I’m still
taking that year off and having some fun.”