Tony Dellamano, a former baseball player with the Texas Rangers organization, came to COrnell Universiy's Hotel School for his Master's degree to learn the corporate side of the restaurant business. He already knew some of its operations: after earning a managerial economics degree from the University of California, Davis, he had been a server, floor manager, and financial consultant for high-end restaurants in San Diego.
At Cornell, he discovered entrepreneurship. He and classmate Mark Kuperman created a fast-food snack that they called Johnny Applestix. They submitted the idea to the Big Red Venture Fund, a campus-wide competition sponsored by the Johnson Graduate School of Management, and they won the first prize of $10,000. With that seed money and valuable contacts made while attending Cornell, they raised the necessary capital to launch the business at three locations in northeast Ohio.
Now, the partners are involved in every aspect of the startup, with Dellamano concentrating on building the brand - to make Johnny Applstix the fast food of choice in malls across America.
I mean in the beginning we tried to have such a specific brand so people - form one, really understood who we were and what we were doing. And just got the concept. And it was easy because our name was Johnny Applestix. Our product - we're Apple Stix. Now it's been a little more of a challenge. ...(Full transcript available to logged in subscribers.).
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Mark Kuperman States Business Plan Is A Necessary Evil But You Can't Let It Hold You Back
Tony Dellamano Discusses Initial Market Research Done To Confirm That Product Had Consumer Base
Mark Kuperman States Listening To People Is The Most Important Aspect of Product Development
Tony Dellamano States Overly Specific Branding Can Lead To Problems If Product Line Expands
Tony Dellamano States Importance of Working With Someone You Know When Developing Branding and Logos
Tony Dellamano and Mark Kuperman Discuss Branding, Barriers To Entry and Competitive Advantage
Mark Kuperman States Biggest Challenge of Starting A Business Is Handling Uncertainty
Tony Dellamano States Key To Partnership Are Having Different Interests and Having Respect
Tony Dellamano and Mark Kuperman Share Their Thoughts on Exit Strategy From Johnny Applestix
Tony Dellamano States Johnny Applestix Was Fortunate To Get Smart Money With Their First Funding Plan
Tony Dellamano and Mark Kuperman States Strong Partnerships Have To Have Different Skill Sets
Tony Dellamano States Managing People Is One Of The Bigger Challenges of Being an Entrepreneur
Tony Dellamano and Mark Kuperman Share Thoughts on Hiring and Taking Advantage of Employee Strengths
