Brooklyn's Progress
June/July 2006

By HAROLD EGELN

The New York Enterprise Report held its inaugural Brooklyn event with a panel on how to succeed in business by really trying. “Secrets to Running a Successful Business,” was held Apr. 6, in the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge.

Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Members Alan Rosen, Co-Owner, Junior’s Restaurant; Monique Greenwood, CEO/ President and Founder, Akwaaba Enterprises and Howie Glickberg, Co-Owner, Fairway Market offered attendees lots of food for thought as recipes for success. The New York Enterprise Report event, its first in Brooklyn, was sponsored by Aetna and 1010 WINS with the support of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

“This is a great way for small businesses to learn the power of success,” said Greg Janoff, General Manager, 1010 WINS news radio before the event began.

“We look forward to their insights,” added Katherine Begley, General Manager, NE Region, Aetna Small Business Group.”

“We have a terrific panel of successful business owners to share their secrets to success,” announced Robert Levin, President, New York Enterprise Report.

“I used the do or die slogan, using what I call the third eye of vision to see the possibilities,” said Ms. Greenwood about starting her bed-and-breakfast inn business 10 years ago. “There were no major hotels in Brooklyn then. The Marriott wasn't even build,” she said.

Ms. Greenwood who self-financed her business said for her word-of-mouth throughout the neighborhood and as the best method.

Beside its first, bed-and-breakfast at an historic mansion in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Akwaaba Enterprises, also has inns in Washington, DC; Cape May, NJ and New Orleans, LA.

“It's about turning a passion into a profit,” she explained. “We love what we do. We give our guests an experience.”

Mr. Levin then noted, “Your service is your marketing.”

As an incentive to the inns' employees and managers, $50 bonuses are given, and innkeepers get a chance to work at other inns for a few days. The Innkeepers have tele-conferences every week, which helps.

“I hire for desire. I look for people who are running to this job,” said Ms. Greenwood.

Panelists said good employees are important to any successful business like Junior’s Restaurant, which began in downtown Brooklyn over 50 years ago. Mr Rosen, whose father started the company, is opening another restaurant in Times Square. The Rosen’s have also had a site at Grand Central Station for several years now.

“We view our employees as family members. It's a whole vibe,” said Mr. Rosen. “We keep in touch with every employee, and we have about 300.”

Junior's has incorporate technology into business. The restaurant does a large mail order business with its famous cheesecakes. “Over 100,000 cheesecakes are sold through the Internet every year,” Mr. Rosen said.

As for to co-owners of Fairway, a relationship of trust works is extremely important, they sometimes have to make decisions on the spot.
 
“It's all about finding good help,” said Mr. Glickberg. “For every 100 people we hire a year, 20 stay after a year. You have to find ways to keep employees. We have employees who've been with us for over 30 years. You need to get your core of loyal employees.”

For Fairway's marketing, Mr. Glickberg said, a PR firm was hired once and an LED billboard was used at the Harlem store, but free publicity is the best way to go. “We got to get people to the store just once and then keep them coming back as customers,” he added.

Fairway Market, with supermarkets in Manhattan at Broadway and West 74th Street, and in Harlem on 125th Street, has opened its first Brooklyn store in Red Hook.

Both Junior's and Fairway are now into their third generation of family ownership, while Akwaaba started out fresh a decade, as Ms. Greenwood, a senior-editor at “Essence Magazine” then sought out a new venture.

Mr. Rosen, Mr. Glickberg and Ms. Greenwood emphasized the importance of community linkages. “The grassroots plays a big role in success,” Ms. Greenwood said. “Get very involved in local life... Get plugged in.”