| My career at
Farrell's began in July, 1977 at a parlour in Southridge Shopping
Center in Greendale Wisconsin. I started as a lowly dishwasher, and
toiled through the ranks as I saved money for my high school choir's
trip to Italy. In November, I was promoted to "Kitchen Attendant"
(fancy name for line cook). I eventually mastered that department,
and over the next two years I mastered the fountain department and
pantry prep areas as well.
Over this time, I had found the
Farrell's concept fascinating. Most of the customers (and employees
as well) were having fun, and it seemed to fill a niche,
particularly for birthdays, school dances, etc.
By 1981, as my college career was
floundering, I decided to join the full-time crew at the parlour. in
1982, I was promoted to lead employee at the parlour at Northridge
Shopping Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This parlour was not
profitable at that time, and sales were spiraling downward.
Nonetheless, it provided a tremendous training avenue for me. While
working there, I was promoted to full assistant manager.
The Milwaukee Farrell's was closed
in March, 1983. I subsequently transferred to the parlour in
Woodfield Shopping Center in Schaumburg, Illinois (A once-mighty
parlour that, through local mismanagement, became merely average).
Before landing there, however, I spent a three week stint at the
Ford City parlour on the south side of Chicago. Once at Schaumburg,
I spent the next 18 months there before being promoted to parlour
manager at the parlour in North Riverside, Illinois. This parlour,
another colossal money-loser, was slated to be sold as soon as the
company could secure a buyer. I ran that parlour until January,
1995, when I was offered an opportunity to move to sunny southern
California to operate a parlour out there.
The parlour on Hawthorne Blvd in
Torrance, California, was a potential goldmine whose potential had
not been tapped in a few years. My time there had also been most
formative with respect to my understanding of what Farrell's is and
means. Problem was that, by the time I had arrived in California,
the plans for dissolution of the Farrell's chain were already in
motion. Torrance closed at the end of August, 1995 (the company sold
it to Collins Food International for $400k; they converted the store
into an Ed Debevic's). Disheartened, I returned to Greendale, to my
original parlour, and worked as assistant to the manager there for
the next four months until that parlour was shut down and sold.
After my time at Farrell's, I
worked briefly as a dining room manager for Marriott Hotel division.
I also spent three weeks in the management training program for
Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, and I finished out my first
restaurant management career with Country Kitchens of Wisconsin.
None of these companies was nearly as much fun as Farrell's, and I
found that I didn't enjoy restaurant management (parlour management
was a different story). Finally, in March 1998, I left the
restaurant industry and returned to the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee to finish pursuing the engineering degree I had
abandoned so many years earlier. |
