Whether it's the opportunity for diners to create their own meal choosing vegetables, meats, pastas and fruits combined with their own signature sauce, or the 6-foot flaming, hot grill at the center of it all, the Grand Chute HuHot continues to rank in the top two or three franchises in the nation.
More recently, the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce & Industry named it its 2009 Rising Star winner as part of its annual Small Business of the Year Awards.
"Selection of the winners is based on business performance. That's in terms of growth in sales, employment and overall success of the company over time," said Jim Schlies, vice president for economic development at the Fox Cities chamber.
The annual chamber awards recognize small businesses in one of four categories. A panel of five local business people with a background in small business development and performance determine winners based on a variety of criteria.
"When we found out, we were ecstatic," said David Lindenstruth, local franchise owner. "It was very surprising and we are greatly honored by it."
With little restaurant experience and an engineer by trade, Lindenstruth went through the E-Seed program through Fox Valley Technical College in 2005.
"The E-Seed program really helped me develop a basis for running a business," Lindenstruth said. "The program was the foundation for everything, all the different aspects financial, research, business planning, everything."
FREMONT — Louis Woods, owner of the Wolf River Outfitters Resort & Campground, keeps especially busy this time of the year
He maintains 12 housekeeping units at the resort, which are like small cabins, and 25 campsites. He also runs a bait shop.
It took a substantial chunk of money and time for Woods, 43, to launch the resort. He said he has $750,000 invested in the operations.
“I put the money up because I believe in this,” said Woods, who grew up in Fremont. “My whole life is wrapped up in this.”
Business has been brisk, running far ahead of last year.
“We’ve been sold out every weekend since the first of April and the month of April we were sold out completely,” he said. “I targeted the Milwaukee crowd and the Chicago crowd really hard this year. We pulled in a lot of people to come up and fish instead of heading up north or into Canada.”
He definitely gets by with the help of his family, like his aunt, Margaret Curtis, who left steamy Fort Worth, Texas, to join the business in October.
“It’s just a beautiful place, absolutely lovely,” she said. “People are friendly. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Q Small businesses are vulnerable in a down economy, yet you're doing pretty well. What's the secret?
A June Contreras: For our business, we're getting work by word of mouth and referrals from people who know us and trust us.
Ruben Contreras loads equipment at his Appleton shop Thursday. Contreras and his wife, June, own Action Painting & Carpet Care, a business that started with one ladder and Ruben. Also pictured is Ruben's brother Gilberto Contreras. Photo for The Post-Crescent by Wm. Glasheen
Ruben Contreras: The secret is that the first customer I had I tried to do the best job. More than he was expecting. In this economy, I think we're doing well because the customers are happy. A house I painted in 2006 ... I'm going back this summer to check how the house is.
Q What happens if you see something peeling?
A Ruben: I fix it.
Q Were you painting before you started this company?
A Ruben: I moved to Appleton in 1997 from Mexico because my brother was here before me. I went to Fox Valley Technical College for ESL (English as a Second Language). I painted in Mexico. My family has properties. People always said, "Hey, you're a pretty good painter." Here, I started to work in restaurants. When I was working at Zacatecas, an old guy from Mexico used to always come in with clothes for paint. He was a painter. I said, "How do you get jobs?" He said, "I ride my bicycle and if I see a business that needs paint, I tell them. That's how I do it." So I went to the Sherwin-Williams store every day at 7 in the morning, waiting for contractors. I said, "Hey, do you need help?" The manager said, "Ruben just give me your phone number. You don't have to come in every day." The phone rings when I was going to church on Sunday morning and it was a painting company. "Can you start tomorrow?"
Q You started your own business on a shoestring in 2005?
A June: Ruben quit his job. He was translating at the hospitals and serving in a restaurant. I think we had $250 in our savings account. I thought, "You're nuts." I was pregnant at the time with our first baby and I thought we'd be impoverished. Little did I know he already had jobs he'd lined up. We got a taxpayer ID and our insurance. We didn't even have a truck. He was driving my Ford Contour.Ruben: I told my customers, "Tomorrow we'll bring the ladders." I tied them on top of the Contour and drive at night so the customer wouldn't see it. The next day, we were already set up.June: Eventually we got a pickup truck.Q Two years after you started the business you took an E-Seed course. Why?A June: We took it together. I worked as a bookkeeper my whole life, but I didn't know anything about marketing and advertising. I learned so much. E-Seed was an eye-opener. Ruben: We had all the ideas, but not in order.
Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton is the only school in the world that is combining a Massachusetts Institute of Technology prototype lab model with a center that helps entrepreneurs write business plans and get funding, as far as a group of MIT alumni can tell.That unique trait helped the school's Fab Lab/Venture Center win one of four 2009 MIT Club of Wisconsin Technology Achievement Awards.The other recipients are: James Hyde, a Medical College of Wisconsin biophysics professor who has secured more than $37 million of grants in the last 25 years, holds 33 U.S. patents, and has co-founded two companies; Paradigm Sensors LLC, a Milwaukee maker of hand-held biodiesel fuel sensors that recently won an R&D 100 award; and Orion Energy Systems Inc., a Plymouth maker of energy-efficient lights for industrial users that the club says has since 2001 helped customers save an estimated $455 million in energy costs and prevented 4 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released.The awards will be presented Friday night a dinner at the Country Springs Hotel in Waukesha. Keynote speaker is Sherwin Greenblatt, co-founder of Bose Corp. The event is open to the public and costs $50 a person or $95 a couple. For more information contact
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or go to the state club's Web site.