After more than 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, John Rivers returned to Jacksonville with a barbecue brand he started in 2009 in the Orlando area and brought advice for many area second-stage business owners.
"It's coming back home," Rivers, 4 Rivers Smokehouse founder, told participants of the JAX Chamber CEO Nexus Forum.
Rivers, a Bishop Kenny High School graduate, opened his fourth restaurant — and first in Jacksonville — in mid-June at 9220 Baymeadows Road.
He was the keynote speaker at the quarterly chamber forum, offering advice to owners of second-stage businesses.
Such businesses are defined as being privately held, Florida-based and beyond initial startup with 10-99 employees and annual revenue between $1 million and $49 million.
Rivers has 400 employees among his four restaurants, including 74 in the Jacksonville restaurant.
He framed his advice in five areas:
• Passion. "Something was missing," he said of the time he served in leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry. He is not a trained chef, but said he loved to cook — to the point where he retired from the business and ended up purchasing a 1,300-square-foot former automobile shop to create a place he could barbecue. That happened after an errant phone call from someone offering condolences after hearing news of his kindergarten-aged daughter having a terminal brain tumor. It was a mistake, but "it shook me up." He found the parents of the girl and offered monetary assistance, but was declined. Instead, he cooked his barbecue for a fundraiser that 450 people attended. "It woke that passion up," he said. "It reminded me of what I loved to do." He never found out who made the phone call.
• Perseverance. Rivers had no restaurant experience and was told it was a bad idea when he began construction and renovation of the Winter Park location in a former auto store. It also happened to be in 2009, during an economic recession. A four- to five-month goal and $188,000 budget for the facility dragged into a 71/2 month, $525,000 "dead duck," he said. After receiving advice from industry veterans who sampled and liked his barbecue, he found the right contractor who helped him see the project through. "It all started coming together," he said.
• Loyalty. "You're a team, everybody gets behind that," he said of his employees. The message that "nobody is too good or too high" for any position starts with him, and he has done his share of dishes, mopping and other duties to set that example. Loyalty also comes in the form of customers, who have found out about his restaurant through word-of-mouth. Money isn't spent on traditional advertising and instead is spent back in the community through charity.
• Focus. Rivers said opening two stores would make a good year, but three is "growing way too fast." Outgrowing personnel and resources is an issue businesses can face, he said. Jacksonville is a test — and a risk — from the Orlando market, he said. Atlanta is twice as big in terms of demographics, but "didn't make sense" from a brand-leveraging aspect and would have more than tripled his commute. After the forum, Rivers said expansion in Jacksonville was a possibility, with Orange Park, the Beach and Hodges boulevards area and Avondale and Ortega are of interest.
• Purpose. "Make sure you have a purpose for every action you take. Do it for a reason," he said.
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