HOMETOWN: Ashland, N.H.
EDUCATION: The Culinary Institute of America
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2009 winner of the National Restaurant Association's Cornerstone Humanitarian Award
PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS: taking his daughters to Europe for 10 weeks in 1980
HOBBIES: philanthropy, the mechanical and energy ends of the business, striving to be a "great american citizen"
PERSONAL: longtime partner, two daughters, two grandchildren
Ashland is the geographic center of New Hampshire and ground zero for the 40-year-old Common Man Family of Restaurants. Alex Ray, a Culinary Institute of America graduate who quickly discovered he was not cut out for the corporate world, opened the first Common Man in Ashland in November 1971 at the age of 26, and since then has grown it into a collection of 20 restaurants in cities that span the north-south route of Interstate 93. Among them are eight Common Man locations and 10 other restaurants, such as Foster’s Boiler Room, Rise & Shine Café, Italian Farmhouse, Lago, Camp, Lakehouse, Town Docks, The 104 Diner, Airport Diner and the Tilt’n Diner, where more than a few wannabe presidents have stopped to press the flesh through the years. Keeping the company within New Hampshire’s borders has been a good, if not strategic, move, Ray said.
“People get to embrace the restaurants as their own,” he said, adding, “and the management team can get everywhere in an hour and a half.” Ray also owns two inns and an entertainment center.
What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in 40 years?
Early in my days, there were no chains in New Hampshire except QSRs. [Casual-dining chains] didn’t go to New York because it was tough, and they didn’t go to New Hampshire because it was so thin; we had none. Now, the greater Concord area has 22 national casual brands. Luckily, I picked a little more upscale category. I was lucky in choosing that category.
Regulatorily, we’re getting beat up every day, and there’s more liability — you can’t say the wrong thing or you might be accused of sexual harassment or wrongful termination. It’s getting harder and harder to not be constantly worrying about liability and legal issues. Building codes are getting so tough, too. Today, so much of your money is soft costs, with [the Americans with Disabilities Act and] HVAC. It’s just so hard, but I’m not going to change that. At least we are all in the same tide.
How important is philanthropy to you?
Very, but we don’t just write checks. We do things like having the firemen come in and cook. Our staffs are empowered to host fundraising events or do parties. It’s more visual, more fun and less a threat to our sustainability. In Portsmouth, N.H., in Prescott Park they’ve been doing a fundraiser for 20 years. They asked me for $15,000, and I said no. Instead, we sold apple crisp from the Common Man for $5 each. The first year, they took in $23,000, and we had 10 times the exposure for a third of the cost.
What are your interests outside of work?
I’m a gear head. Work is the only real thing I do. I go to Honduras every 60 days; we’re in our third year of building a culinary school down there. I don’t even ski anymore, and I’m not into politics, but I want to be a great American citizen.
What are you anticipating for 2012?
We’re doing internal growth for a year or two. We’re getting better before we get bigger. We slid into BAU, business as usual. We were building one restaurant a year, which is slow, but not in New Hampshire.
… But what are we anticipating? It’s not going to be worse; I can’t imagine it being worse. We’re fine, and when you have tough times it makes you better and stronger, and I think we are. … I don’t want to make more money; I just want to sustain.
Contact Robin Lee Allen at robinlee.allen@penton.com.
Follow her on Twitter: @RobinLeeAllen.
