The One Thing that changed it all...

My name is Gary Plassmeyer. I am a serial entrepreneur that has been grinding it out for over 10 year now. After 25 years in the restaurant industry I decided to take the spirit within me and create my lifelong dream. Last week that dream was shattered as we closed the doors for good. The resulting path and journey it has set our team on is nothing shy of a miracle in my eyes though as last week was THE BEST week of our lives life.

The pizza concept was called 9th Slice Pizza Co. The restaurant was the brainchild of an initial team of four. What could go wrong? My years in the industry had us ready to dominate the world, expand to 50+ units and be known for quality and awesomeness. Yeah, that didn't happen. Nine month of construction delays coupled with two years of major road construction (before opening a business check with the local township for future plans, lesson learned the hard way for us!) and that was all she wrote. We didn't even give ourselves a chance, at least I thought. Mopping floors by myself at 1 AM on weekend nights because there were no sales to facilitate excess payroll. Asking God "WHY??" every single night. We now know why and the resulting clarity and focus amaze us every minute of every day. As the last days of 9th Slice drew to a close there were a mixed bag of emotions. Sadness, disappointment, frustration, second guessing were the first reactions. Who wouldn't feel this way? Losing a dream is tough. We had a great idea with great made from scratch food that the Lord decided it just was not the right time and place for. We made some "on the fly" decisions that were a detriment to the brand including the removal of our bar and deciding to lose the servers resulting in an all fast-casual environment. These decisions were out of reaction which (another lesson learned) is no way to run a business. We make no excuses and hold ourselves accountable for the ultimate failure of a personal lifelong goal of creating, owning and operating a restaurant. As my kids would say... oof.

But right behind all of that and SO MUCH MORE important are the feelings of blessed, grateful, thankful, humbled, amazed etc etc etc etc. I would not be where I am today without 9th Slice opening. No way no how... I was given the gift of sobriety during this journey! After battling through addiction for 27 years, that weight was lifted on April 17, 2018 and life finally began at that point. My wife, Kristy, said get you act together so I did. I spent 2 weeks on my own, running around Milwaukee hitting every AA meeting I could find. Scared, lost and lonely were my emotions and feelings. But it slowly got better... I worked on myself, sobered up, lost a bunch of weight and gave my brain time to de-fog. Then I worked on my faith and family. Mended broken promises and pledged to be the husband and father I knew I could be. Then I worked on my friends. None of them bought it but believed I could do it (I was a wild man, save that for another article). Then finally I turned our attention to business. As my mind continued to become clearer and focused, I were able to see the doors that were opened for myself, family and teammates. My attitude changed from "WHY?" to "ALRIGHT, WHAT'S NEXT!" Incredible how life can change so quickly when you are able to focus on THE ONE THING.

PIVOT!!!!

After the chemical imbalance wore off from the years of alcohol the frustration that we felt during the road construction really set in. We were trying any way possible to bring revenue in. It was a grind. This was the single hardest time of our lives but at least my mind was able to push forward. We started in house delivery and thought for sure this was the ticket for scale and growth. This was not to be as our thin crust pizza just wouldn't hold up like we wanted it to during the delivery process. It was soooooooo frustrating that we started trying to find ways to make the pizza keep all its traits (hot, crispy, right out of the oven) from our doors to people's homes. By myself at first then with teammates. Then we started reaching out to business contacts. After 17 months of engineers, scientists, teammates, family and friends Thermonator Holdings was born! Centered around our initial product of Thermo-V, we have successfully figured out how to keep food hot and crispy for 30+ minutes at a time while in transport. With 3 patents pending and current contracts talks with industry leaders in the food and beverage manufacturing world we still can't believe is happening so fast. Be on the lookout the next time you order food direct from restaurants or use 3rd party delivery. Thermo-V is on the move!! Did I mention we can keep fries hot and crispy?

PIVOT!!!!

At the same time we started creating Thermo-V, another avenue for growth popped up. Being from St. Louis I made the decision to add gooey butter cake to our pizza menu as the lone dessert. Slowly its started to gain a cult following outperforming the pizza at certain times. Heck, people were eating lunch elsewhere and then coming to 9th Slice for dessert. At first, we were offended but then saw potential with a little help from family and a teammate, Alycia. Alycia was always trying to get me to manipulate the original formula and I wouldn't listen at first. She persisted... and persisted... and persisted. Finally, I let it happen. She catered a dessert event and the positive reactions was overwhelming. I looked at her during a Saturday night shift and said, "We are starting a bakery." 40 flavors later Mama Bev's Bakery was launched! Mama Bev's is named after my mom, Bev, and it’s her recipe. I was one of seven kids growing up and the cake was always around, so it just seemed fitting to name it after her. From there we applied for an entrepreneurial symposium in Madison. I was wearing a 9th Slice shirt, pitching the Thermo-V and wound up with a cake lead. Crazy. That contact would up being Jamie, CEO of Catapult Commercialization Services. With him and his team as our backdrop we are currently working through licensing agreements with national bakeries to explode regionally then nationally. The brand, as a whole, is centered around giving back and second chances while working off of the lessons we have learned with life...

Last week was the closure of 9th Slice Pizza Co., meeting confirmed to work through licensing agreement for Thermo-V and initial contract talks for regional St. Louis Butter Cake sales. The best week ever!

The ONE THING for me? Sobering up allowing me to learn who I am. Building my personal core values and statements. Combining those statements into a mission statement and using that to make every decision every day. Business and life.

I are humbled at the opportunities set in front of us. I would like to thank God for smacking the alcoholism out of me. My wife, Kristy, and kids, Maddy and Ronan, for putting up with my entrepreneurial spirit. Mom and Dad for always encouraging that same spirit. Andy for not trying to bury me 6 feet under and all my business partners. Alycia and Jacob for sticking with it through thick and thin. I'm sure I'm missing some, but they know who they are...

We haven't done anything yet. The journey has just begun!!!

#theonething #livelife #family #buttercake #delivery #humbled #recovered