Pizza and River Rafting – A Natural Combination
By day, Matt Fox is a fisheries biologist working on the Deschutes River studying the Pacific Lamprey. By night, Matt is the owner of the Deschutes Pizza Company located in downtown Maupin.
Early in 2008, having researched BLM (Bureau of Land Management) data on the number of river users coming through Maupin, Matt believed there might be an opportunity for a pizza restaurant downtown.
Earlier in his life Matt had worked for a number of restaurants and felt confident he understood the business – but he had never owned his own restaurant. He turned to restaurant friends in Bend for help. “These folks are owners and general managers so they gave me good information on what to consider when starting a restaurant,” said Fox.
By February 2009, moving along with his plans for a restaurant, Matt got an email from Bob Krein, owner of the Sage Canyon River Company in Maupin. Very well connected throughout the commu-nity, Krein knew that Fox was planning a restaurant. He also heard about the enterprise facilitation process through, whom else but Mayor Ross, and felt that Matt might benefit from participating.
Fox began meeting with Greg Hohensee, the Central Oregon Micro Enterprise facilitator, shortly after that. “I was skeptical, actually a little bull-headed at first because I had my Bend mentors who had their own version of the „trinity of manage-ment‟ (product, finance, and marketing.) But as I continued to meet with Greg I found that the ability to talk with someone, confidentially, about my plans was the most helpful part of the enterprise facili-tation process,” said Matt.
Fox feels that, even though he was well-along in the planning cycle for his business, he benefitted from Sirolli Enterprise Facilitation method. “It would have been even more helpful if I had contacted Greg earlier in my planning process. I might have avoided some of the „red‟ (ink) months we experienced initially during the winter months,” said Fox.
Leasing space in a building downtown, Fox opened his restaurant on June 5th, 2009. The restaurant shares space with the Sage Canyon River Company. “Raft lunches on river trips, through Sage, make up a large part of our revenue stream,” said Fox.
An accomplished entrepreneur, Fox is already planning other businesses, extensions of the Deschutes Pizza Company, and plans to use the enterprise facilitation process again. “I plan to use the enterprise facilitation process earlier this time.” “It‟s a great tool and I plan to use it again; the future is not just about pizza,” added Fox.