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| One former Starbucks exec's big gamble on pizza |
Living in London but missing the vibe of their hometown Seattle, he and his wife Ally Svenson started the Seattle Coffee Company, a coffee alternation with a adumbration of Northwest flavor.
Starbucks (SBUX) sniffed out the well-brewed abstraction and bought the U.K. analysis of the aggregation in 1998 for $85 million, authoritative him admiral of Starbucks' European division. But the ambitious appetite persisted.
"In my affection of hearts, I knew I absolutely enjoyed architecture things, accepting a hands-on role in a company's ability and future," Svenson told CNBC.
He absitively to yield a accident and leave Starbucks to accompany entrepreneurship.
"There's just that abhorrence that whatever you're traveling to do is not traveling to work, and that's a advantageous fear, but a fear, nonetheless," he said. "And there was addition fear, which was new for me, that I had success, and I didn't wish to appear aloft as just accepting been lucky, of not getting acceptable at what I do."
Since then, they accept gone on to body assorted companies, including Carluccio's, an Italian restaurant and deli.
Now, the Svensons are rapidly accretion their next adventure — transforming the apple of pizza as co-founders of MOD Pizza, which they affirmation is the aboriginal fast-casual customizable pizza company.
With 114 food and operations in 16 states, MOD Pizza has developed bound aback its 2008 opening. The aggregation has aloft added than $107 actor in funding.
What's Scott's compound for success?
"We appearance ourselves actual abundant as a belligerent start-up. We've array of confused accomplished getting a start-up, but we still try to authority assimilate that culture," he said.
He hasn't let success get to his head.
"When that money is sitting in your bank, it's absolutely simple to become complacent," he said. "There's this acuity you accept to accept if you're growing so quickly, a mindset so that you don't become conceited on allocating resources."
"There are a lot of abundant companies that focus their absorption on their chump and on their product. And our barter and our articles are cool important, but they're not as important to us as our team," he said.
That absorption to the aggregation goes aloft alarming letters and into agent pockets.
"If your cold is to accomplish abiding your advisers are activity engaged, and blessed and aggressive at work, ... they've got to be paid fairly, they accept to be paid well," he said.
MOD Pizza has a abject alternate bacon of $10.50 per hour, able-bodied aloft the federal minimum allowance of $7.25. All advisers alive an boilerplate of 26 or added hours per anniversary are acceptable for vision/dental benefits, and workers accumulate paid time off.
"That's our focus at MOD — demography affliction of our people. And if we yield affliction of our people, we apperceive that business will yield affliction of itself," he said.
The aggregation has added perks, like an emergency armamentarium that advisers and admiral can accord to, in adjustment to advice an agent experiencing a activity crisis. The fund, alleged "The Bridge Fund," has helped advisers who accept suffered from calm violence, the abrupt afterlife of a ancestors affiliate or added adverse circumstances.
For the Svensons, the aperture of a new MOD Pizza is as abundant about the association as about profit.
The money fabricated from all pizza sales on a location's aboriginal day go to a bounded alms that the abundance aggregation picks. Almost all organizations are adolescence or family-oriented organizations, and the donation usually ranges from $2,000 to $5,000.
"People who are ambitious minded, I think, sometimes get bent up on award the business abstraction or befalling area they can accomplish the a lot of money. And, as a result, they accommodation on the affair that that a lot of inspires them or area the affection lies," Svenson said. "I anticipate that's dangerous."
For every pizza awash during Thanksgiving season, the aggregation donates $1 to a nonprofit organization.
"The added we can forward the bulletin to the next bearing of entrepreneurs that giving aback is not alone acceptable living, but it's acceptable business, I anticipate it'll advice accomplish the apple a bigger place," he said.
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