By Cole Boehler
Editor and Publisher
Having just returned from my 11th consecutive Montana Tavern Association Convention, I am filled with thoughts and observations about this most ancient of businesses and the people who own them.
I am very fortunate to know so many of them. I know it in my guts that if I was ever in a jam, I could call any one of hundreds of these small business operators and they would immediately set about seeing what they could do to help.
Stranded? They'd loan me a car. Broke? They'd loan me money. Hungry? They'd feed me. Sick? They'd find medical care.
And, in this respect, I'm really no different than anyone else. They do these things for folks in their communities–and each other –as a matter of course on an almost daily basis.
They are generous to a fault; their word is better than any contract; they stick together through thick and thin; they love nothing better than a fine joke and a good belly laugh. These are things I greatly admire.
But try to take advantage of them, break your word, prove yourself unworthy of their loyalty and you'll find they have long memories.
Most of these folks rarely wear neckties or evening gowns. They probably don't move easily among the country club set. They lack pretense and so may be seen as unsophisticated. Instead of polish, they have grit.
I know some in the business with a PhD. I know of others with Masters degrees who have written college textbooks. Many have a Bachelors or some college while still a few others probably have high school diplomas. One is even an ordained minister. Some people equate education with smarts. However you don't survive in this business without some raw moxie and native intelligence, regardless of your schooling achievments.
Some of these people struggle in their businesses, most often because of market conditions beyond their control. And, yes, a few just plain don't have good business sense.
But most others have an innate understanding of good business principles and their products and customer service. They enjoy the opportunity to always seek ways to grow their enterprises. And if you're a lax competitor, look out, because your customers will become theirs.
But the one defining characteristic all these folks possess is a bedrock work ethic.
Many run foodservice operations that mean they start the grill at 5 a.m. Others open for the coffee crowd at 7 a.m. Others may open at 10 or 11 a.m. to catch the lunch bunch. Most stay open until 2 a.m., then stick around to close out the till, prepare the deposit, restock coolers and wells, get reorders ready and swamp the floors and toilets until 3 or 4 a.m. Heck, some of these places go around the clock.
I know very few licensees who can afford to work an eight-hour day. Even the owners of "large" operations must take a hands-on approach and work long hours. I know of many who routinely work 12 and 16 hour days, six and seven days a week, 364 (even 365) days a year.
Very, very few of these small business owners were handed anything. Sure, some, after learning all the ropes, bought the businesses from their parents, maybe on favorable terms. But most started out as swampers, cooks, bartenders, then worked their way up to management, then took a huge roll of the dice–as did their bankers–and made the leap into ownership.
They remind me of the homesteaders who filed on a piece of raw ground, then turned it into a prosperous farm or ranch through years of backbreaking work. They do, in every case I know, deserve every last thing they have because they have earned it. This is truly an "up by your bootstraps" bunch.
But because they have been successful and have built good enterprises and have earned their assets, there are inevitably those clock-punchers or pundits who, evidently through a jealously of success, would like to see these salt-of-the-earth folks stripped of what they have "proved up."
And that I just don't get.
What is it about these types that lead them to conclude that any successful enterprise or owner is somehow dishonest and undeserving? Is it because they themselves never had the cajones to take these risks? Never had the stamina or will to work these hours? Never had the brains to study complex financial statements and draw the correct conclusions?
These are the policy critics who, if they can't take a licensee's assets outright, advocate simply giving away to any and all takers what those in the business for years have had to earn, and sound social policy be damned.
Sure, everyone would like to be able to be handed a nice piece of farm ground or a ranch or some good waterfront with a view. Maybe a starter mansion up that pretty gulch, an Escalade. All without working for it or earning it.
Of course, if that were the case–if all good things were free–no one's assets would be worth anything, intrinsically or otherwise. Nor would there be much incentive to work or build or create.
I often think of people like Mert and Frank Marottek of Poplar: fine, solid citizens who have been running a good restaurant and tavern business for almost 40 years (while Frank farmed some on the side), providing needed products and services to their community.
They've done nothing but work all their lives and have worked hard to better their business environment, too. Now I hear they're thinking of selling out and retiring. Or maybe Charlie Marottek, their son, will decide to take it on.
Either way, anyone who would advocate taking away–or even seriously devaluing–what they have built and earned, just doesn't have any sense of justice.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, September, 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.