Jeff Osterfeld knew nothing about running a restaurant, but after graduating college in 1983, he decided to give it a try.
He opened Jeffrey’s Delicatessen in the Dayton Mall and quickly found that it was hard work. Osterfeld learned not only how to run a restaurant and the ins and outs of the industry, but he also had to do most of the jobs on his own.
“I feel like in the first 10 to 15 years of the business, from having one store and growing it to 30 to 40 units, I was forced to handle all the different positions and do everything myself,” the founder and CEO says. “I couldn’t afford to hire the right people, and for that reason, I tended to micromanage.”
As the business grew into several locations in the Cincinnati area under the newly created Penn Station East Coast Subs name, Osterfeld knew he needed more people to help keep up with the demands of growth and success. But he first needed to find people who shared the same commitment that he did for the sub sandwich restaurant.
“I became frustrated and disillusioned that people didn’t take the same passion to work every day that I did,” Osterfeld says. “When you create the business, there’s an innate emotional attachment to the success of the business. Other people didn’t treat it the same, and I became frustrated with that.”
Once he found a way to get the right people in place, it was only a matter of empowering them to help him grow the company. The results are a successful quick-service food company with 2008 revenue of $112 million and more than 200 locations.
Here’s how he did it.
