Past Winner Stories
Ritz Charles
www.ritzcharles.com
At age 34, Charles Lazzara, a successful real estate agent, decided to go into the catering business. He had dreamed for years of a private banquet facility that served wedding parties and business conferences.
He and his wife, Lynn, had $50,000 and a site in Carmel, Indiana, an affluent suburb of Indianapolis. It would be the first place of its kind in the Indianapolis area. They would call it Ritz Charles.
Lazzara wrote a business plan and traveled to Chicago for advice from owners of banquet businesses; once he took a skeptical banker with him.
To raise enough capital for the down payment the bank required, he persuaded an experienced businessman, a friend of his father-in-law, to come in as a temporary partner; the businessman would own 70 percent of the real estate, 30 percent of the business, and take an eventual buyout.
Ritz Charles opened the next year, in June 1985, with contracts in hand for over $500,000 in sales. The bank had insisted on some signed contracts, and the Lazzaras went after them. They advertised, cultivated community ties, and worked personally to convince potential clients the new facility would offer high-class food and amenities at a price well below normal hotel and country club rates.
In its second month of operation, the business began showing a profit. It has grown steadily ever since, despite the arrival of new competition. With 125 employees, it had $3.2 million in sales in 1992.
As the business grew Charles Lazzara, the president-Lynn is secretary-learned to delegate more to his managers. He encouraged communication through weekly meetings of all department heads. Managers were given profit and loss statements. Bonuses rewarded performance.
Although the food business historically has low pay and high turnover, Lazzara offered better pay and recruited on college campuses. Some students stayed after graduation and became managers.
In 1989 Lazzara bought five more acres and built an expansion, doubling the building size. He bought mobile equipment and added off-premises catering. The company has served such prestigious functions as the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, the Centel Open in Chicago, and the Breeders Cup in Miami.
Lazzara says he insists on "endless emphasis to management and employees that resources are available to solve any problem they encounter, that by using common sense and each other's knowledge, we can overcome and succeed in anything we do."
No better evidence of Charles and Lynn Lazzara's success is that they have been able to buyout their temporary partner, who got a 30-percent-a-year return on his investment, and now own the business and its real estate 100 percent.
He and his wife, Lynn, had $50,000 and a site in Carmel, Indiana, an affluent suburb of Indianapolis. It would be the first place of its kind in the Indianapolis area. They would call it Ritz Charles.
Lazzara wrote a business plan and traveled to Chicago for advice from owners of banquet businesses; once he took a skeptical banker with him.
To raise enough capital for the down payment the bank required, he persuaded an experienced businessman, a friend of his father-in-law, to come in as a temporary partner; the businessman would own 70 percent of the real estate, 30 percent of the business, and take an eventual buyout.
Ritz Charles opened the next year, in June 1985, with contracts in hand for over $500,000 in sales. The bank had insisted on some signed contracts, and the Lazzaras went after them. They advertised, cultivated community ties, and worked personally to convince potential clients the new facility would offer high-class food and amenities at a price well below normal hotel and country club rates.
In its second month of operation, the business began showing a profit. It has grown steadily ever since, despite the arrival of new competition. With 125 employees, it had $3.2 million in sales in 1992.
As the business grew Charles Lazzara, the president-Lynn is secretary-learned to delegate more to his managers. He encouraged communication through weekly meetings of all department heads. Managers were given profit and loss statements. Bonuses rewarded performance.
Although the food business historically has low pay and high turnover, Lazzara offered better pay and recruited on college campuses. Some students stayed after graduation and became managers.
In 1989 Lazzara bought five more acres and built an expansion, doubling the building size. He bought mobile equipment and added off-premises catering. The company has served such prestigious functions as the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, the Centel Open in Chicago, and the Breeders Cup in Miami.
Lazzara says he insists on "endless emphasis to management and employees that resources are available to solve any problem they encounter, that by using common sense and each other's knowledge, we can overcome and succeed in anything we do."
No better evidence of Charles and Lynn Lazzara's success is that they have been able to buyout their temporary partner, who got a 30-percent-a-year return on his investment, and now own the business and its real estate 100 percent.