Updating a classic
23.03.2008 03:03
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- Source: JS Online
West Milwaukee - John O'Hare carved out a career investing in high-growth industries such as software, medical devices, biotech and drugs. Now he's putting his money on grilled cheese. After 20 years in the investment business, O'Hare last month opened a restaurant just south of Miller Park called the Cheesy Grill. It's all based on a simple idea: everyone loves grilled cheese, but no restaurants focus on them. O'Hare's menu offers the classic gooey sandwiches in glorious variety - spiced with jalapenos, layered with bacon, reconfigured as sloppy Joes, even enveloping cut-up brats. "We're still tweaking the model. The formal plan is if we're hitting the numbers we expect after six months, we'll start site No. 2, and within four months, we want to secure site No. 3," said O'Hare, 49. O'Hare and his wife, Penny, used their own money to open the first restaurant, and they plan to approach family and friends to fund the second and third, all south of I-94, he said. Then they'll turn to angel and/or venture investors and decide whether to build by franchising or working toward an initial public offering, he said. When the O'Hares moved their household and three children to New Jersey in 2003 so he could manage the Oppenheimer Mid Cap Fund, they had no idea that four years later they'd be back in Milwaukee trying to start a restaurant chain. But by 2005, the strain of a 1 1/2 -hour commute into Manhattan and the pull of the family's Wisconsin roots got O'Hare to work out an arrangement to manage the fund from Milwaukee. He had decent performance numbers, but a management shakeup at Oppenheimer last year brought new bosses who wanted all the firm's portfolio managers in New York. "He wasn't about the speculation and trading, but about the fundamentals of the company and digging into details - which seems like it would translate well into starting your own business," said David Kathman, a Morningstar Inc. research analyst who follows O'Hare's old fund. Building a successful chain requires a good concept and the ability to maneuver past new challenges at every turn, said Craig Culver, co-founder of the burger and frozen-custard chain that bears his name. "If the commitment and dedication are truly there, he's got a shot at it," said Culver, president and CEO of Culver Franchising in Prairie du Sac. Recipe for successThe Cheesy Grill concept emerged when O'Hare's two oldest boys - then in college and high school - asked how to become millionaires. To make $1 million by 40, they should quit school and get jobs at McDonald's, work hard to become managers, and strive to ultimately buy four or five franchises, O'Hare says he told them. If they wanted to be mega-millionaires, he added, they should start their own restaurant chains. "I said I'd start a place that serves grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, and put sloppy Joes inside the grilled cheese," O'Hare recalled. Within two months, Oppenheimer restructured. Gone were the national appearances for outlets like Bloomberg TV, CNBC and TheStreet.com. No more one-on-ones with people such as Jim Donald, former CEO of Starbucks. O'Hare is now balancing the books, serving customers, trying to drum up funding and meeting with vendors who think he and his wife are too picky about tomato soup. "When we asked for tomato soup they said, 'It's all the same, buy the cheapest one,' " Penny O'Hare said. It isn't, and they didn't, she said. Hot off the griddleO'Hare says his enthusiasm springs from his belief he has a unique concept that's different from all the burger places and sub shops. He knows of just one other operator focused on grilled cheese - a two-store Denver-based chain called Chedd's Gourmet Grilled Cheese that's aiming to franchise nationally. Chedd's, started by a couple from Wisconsin, offers 35 cheeses and 12 breads. "That's an inventory nightmare," said O'Hare, who says one of his challenges is fending off well-meaning friends who want to "upscale" his concept. William A. Priebe isn't one of them. The tomato soup was creamy, rich and a good value for the money, and the cheesy Joe was "excellent," said Priebe, Geneva Capital's co-president. The cheesy Joe - a grilled cheese filled with sloppy Joe mix - is turning out to be one of the restaurant's most popular sandwiches, O'Hare said. In fact, a call-in order for 10 cheesy Joes earlier this month created for O'Hare the kind of excitement a good-looking stock chart used to produce. "I said to my son Patrick, 'Think about that, three weeks ago a cheesy Joe didn't exist, and we just got an order for 10 over the phone,' " O'Hare said. "It's not a Big Mac or a Whopper, but we created a sandwich."
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