Business Leaders: Fine Dining With A Business Edge | Ahlquists approach their restaurant business with passion and precision
There was little doubt in Robb Ahlquist’s mind after he graduated from Syracuse University in New York in 1972.
“I think I understood fairly early on that I wanted to be my own boss,” he said, adding that he always had the ambition to attain that goal before he reached the age of 30.
And after working for a family-owned restaurant group in Upstate New York, he, along with his wife Madeleine, a fellow Syracuse grad, decided that 1978 would be the year when they struck out on their own.
As Madeleine tells it, Robb had one year find the perfect location for a restaurant while she continued teaching to pay the bills. And as the clock ticked, Robb traveled throughout New England scoping out sites until he settled on a property on Highland Street in his hometown of Worcester.
“We opened the Sole Proprietor on Dec. 28, 1978 at 5 p.m.,” Madeleine recalled. “Three days short of our one-year deadline.”
Since that time, the Ahlquists — this year’s Small Business Leaders of the Year —have shown incredible business acumen. They’ve grown The Sole Proprietor as well as adding two more restaurants to their portfolio — 111 Chophouse in 1999 and VIA in 2007. In the 30 years since The Sole began offering its unique, fish-centric fare, the Ahlquists have raised the level of dining in the city and shown that the restaurant business is in fact a business. Combined their three restaurants employ nearly 300 people in the city and have greased the wheels of countless business and political deals.
Foodies At Heart
Robb and Madeleine Ahlquist might have known business ownership was in their future, but they didn’t always know fine dining would be on the menu.
In fact, Robb entered Syracuse University with the intention of eventually becoming a doctor. But the college gave them their first introduction to the food business when the pair began working for the school’s dining service. Showing their entrepreneurial spirit even then, they helped develop a program that put the entire campus’s dining service under complete student control.
After college, Robb was clearly on the path toward food service, and decided to apply the lessons he learned in Upstate New York at their own high-end restaurant. While in retrospect the Ahlquists acknowledge the risky nature of their decision to get into the notoriously tricky restaurant business, Madeleine said that at the time, it was a natural progression.
“I knew he was always going to be in business for himself,” Madeleine said. “We felt young enough at that age that we could try and fail and still be all right. We were blissfully ignorant, I guess.”
Growth Mode
From the time The Sole opened, Robb had a 10-year plan to grow the restaurant. And once again he came in just under the wire. They expanded the restaurant in the late 80s and upgraded the interior to get closer to the luxury aesthetic they had originally envisioned.
“We worked hard and saved pennies so we could go through and redesign the restaurant,” he said, adding, “That was the first real implementation of the vision we had started to develop.”
The result of that expansion and continued investment is a restaurant that caters to a diverse clientele and one that is an institution within the city.
All three of the Ahlquists restaurants — owned under the Worcester Restaurant Group umbrella — are great economic development stories for the city, according to City Manager Michael O’Brien.
“The Ahlquists represent the best and brightest in their field in Worcester,” he said.
O’Brien said he counts the Ahlquists among his friends and described them as both “caring” and “wanting to make a difference.”
“They also want to do things once and do them right, which in so many ways parallels this community’s broader mission for development.”
Footprint Expansion
While the Ahlquists always intended to expand The Sole, they didn’t always intend on expanding their restaurant count. They wanted to open a steakhouse, but their decision to open 111 Chophouse on Shrewsbury Street was dictated more by personnel issues than by personal desire.
“One of the things that started to become apparent was that with one restaurant it was difficult for us to take care of our employees who had greater ambitions,” Robb said. “If we didn’t provide more opportunities, we would lose them and potentially compete against them.”
Invested In Education
And that decision to give employees opportunity rather than lose them is emblematic of the Ahlquists strong commitment to employee development.
Training has been a huge priority for the Ahlquists, prompting them to form a relationship with Worcester Polytechnic Institute Professor Art Gerstenfeld.
Over the years, they’ve been regular speakers in one of Gerstenfeld’s undergraduate business classes, reviewing for the students practical applications of business principles at their restaurants.
For example, they’ll discuss the layout of their restaurant and how they’ve maximized efficiency in every way. In return for their classroom support, Gerstenfeld regularly leads workshops with the Ahlquist’s management group.
The decision to bring in Gerstenfeld was prompted by the Ahlquists frustration with expensive management trainings that often had no relevance to their business.
“We were struggling mightily to bring some new ideas in,” and working with Gerstenfeld provided a better, and more useful, method of training, Robb said.
Gerstenfeld said he’s been impressed by the Ahlquists devotion to constant improvement.
“They never sit back and relax,” he said. “They’re always thinking, ‘How can we improve the teamwork?’”
One of the principles that the Ahlquists have adopted is “lean,” a term most often applied to manufacturing. But the concept — which puts a high value of efficiency — is a major part of the Ahlquist’s business philosophy.
“[Lean]’s not just window dressing,” Gerstenfeld said. “They really believe in it.”
Cost Controls
Beyond making sure food service is as efficient as possible, the Ahlquists are hard-nosed when it comes to the numbers. The management group at the three restaurants meet to review not monthly but weekly profit and loss statements.
That frequency allows the company to “tightly” control expenses and spot trends — increased prices in haddock, for example — and take corrective action before they become problematic.
The weekly financial reviews might be overkill for some business people who are used to a monthly report, but for Robb it gives the company “52 chances to make corrections instead of just 12.”
The Ahlquists don’t even look at their business as a food business. Instead, explains Robb, they are akin to a manufacturer with incredible time constraints: They have to take raw materials and transform them into a finished product within the space of 60 to 90 minutes. And at the same time, they have to create an atmosphere that makes the customer want to come back again and again.
Robb’s careful financial tracking allowed him to spot some red flags pointing toward an economic decline as early as the summer of 2007. And while many business people were happily reveling in the last days of the real estate bubble, Robb was preparing for the worst.
“In the last year we’ve worked harder than any other,” he said.
They’ve taken many steps to improve the bottom line given the condition of the market. They’ve had to look hard at overhead and increasing volume. They’ve also gotten creative, introducing new promotions, including a $5 martini promotion and “happy hour” discounts. They are also in the process of adding lunch to the menu at VIA, which has only served dinner since its opening.
Overall, the Ahlquists — with 40 years of experience under their belts — still run their restaurants like they just got into the business.
“There’s no guarantee that a customer is going to walk through your door. You have to earn it every single day,” Robb said.
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