I don’t know if it’s because I’m a writer or that I like to read, but I’m always running into people I think should write books. My single girlfriend in the Bay Area should chronicle her crazy dating adventures, a sort of “Sex in the City” for San Francisco. An old boyfriend should write down his hilarious Wild West tales of growing up in a black neighborhood in Caspar, Wyo.
Then there is Steve Andreakos, a regional sales manager in Littleton, Colo., for Vienna Beef Ltd. I met Andreakos in May on a plane to Chicago. We were both en route to the National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show. Andreakos had the misfortune of getting the middle seat, but it didn’t seem to ruin his mood. He and I chatted all the way from Denver to Chicago.
Andreakos has been in foodservice since high school, and after talking to him I realized he was a wealth of knowledge on how to run a restaurant. He knows almost every angle, having worked for food companies, a fast-food chain, independent operators, contract feeders, caterers and suppliers.
A job with a Chicago food manufacturer sent him to Denver, where he later became a manager for a Chicago-style pizza restaurant, the Windy City. Andreakos also was a multiunit manager for Burger King, overseeing the chain’s Colorado stores.
While at Burger King, a former Windy City customer who had been impressed with Andreakos’ service tracked him down and offered him a job. Paul Lambert, who started the now-defunct Paul’s Place restaurants, needed help expanding his gourmet-burger chain. Andreakos stayed with Paul’s for about 10 years, developed its catering division and eventually moved back to the supplier side of the business.
I told him he should write a book. He pondered that for a minute.
“Well, there are many materials out there, but they are very generic in their approach and not specific enough to the restaurant business,” he acknowledged.
As a sales manager for Vienna Beef’s Mountain States territory, part of his job is responding to inquiries from people who want to open their own restaurants, but have never been in the business.
“The biggest hurdles are getting the right equipment,” he said. “They always mis-buy. You have to make the right purchases.”
People also underestimate how much money they need to start a business, he added. Andreakos ticked off the how-to topics he covers with wannabe restaurateurs: menu planning, local marketing, viewing the business from the eye of a customer, finding a niche, asking the right questions, finding what’s right for your business.
“Oh, my gosh,” I said, noting that he already had his table of contents. “What about a title?”
“I’ve never thought of it,” he said. “I guess something about passion. If you don’t have passion in running a restaurant, you will die on the vine. Passion is what it takes to do business today.”