PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Highland Park, IL ... - Wordspecs

A Trip Down Memory Lane
Bob was born at Highland Park Hospital in
1964, was graduated from HPHS in ’82,
and has lived here in Highland Park all
his life. A shrewd and clever businessman from
the beginning, his first job was to manage all of
the purchasing and scheduling for a large
manufacturing company in Northbrook. His
responsibilities included purchasing more than
$1 million dollars in merchandise, overseeing 18
workers on the factory floor, coordinating
production, and shipping out the finished
product. He was 19 years old at the time. “It was
a hell of an experience, and I’ll never forget it.”
Then, at the age of 21, he became the
owner of a food and liquor store for a year,
with a silent partner. Realizing that the
business would never do better than to break
even, Bob sold it. Almost immediately his
former boss hired him back. But Bob was
growing restless. So he tried his hand at a few
other purchasing jobs; nothing really
challenged him. In 1989 he decided to go it
alone and looked into a White Hen Pantry
franchise opportunity that had opened up in
Ravinia. The rest, as they say, is history.
It’s easy to understand that Bob was already a
pro at coordinating large amounts of product and
the complicated scheduling of a large team, but
ultimately, his success was based on how Bob
feels about his fellow human beings. As long-time White Hen customer Judy Koster is eager to point out,
“Anyone you talk to in Highland Park will have a story about Bob. He knows my kids and their friends.
He knows everything about this community.” Judy was a regular at White Hen (the more concise
corporate identity the company took on) for at least 15 years. “For me, it all started when I walked in and
saw the ‘give-a-penny/take-a-penny’ tray sitting on his counter. Everyone has one of those now, but back
then, it was new.” His friendly nature was also sincere. “Bob’s mentality was never, ‘I have better things
to do than deal with you’; it was always, ‘How can I get it done?’ no matter what,” Judy says.
Lester Dotson, another Highland Park resident, had shopped at the White Hen since the day it
opened. “People would go in just to cash a check—Bob had no problem with that. Or they might be
short a little money—no problem! He’d just say, ‘When you get a chance, come back in and drop the
money off.’ It takes a real neighborhood type of person to do a thing like that.” [Ed. Note: This actually
happened to me.] On one occasion, a mother stopped by on a Moped with her daughter to buy a bag
of groceries. She was ready to drive it all home, but Bob wouldn’t let her. Instead, he dropped it off at
her front door later that day. There’s even a story that one guy, having missed his train, was
chauffeured all the way back to Chicago by Bob. Of course, to step away from your own business for a
little while, you have to have trustworthy employees.
“He had a great crew working for him,” says long-time customer and Highland Park resident Dave
Auerbach. “They all had different personalities, and you got to know them each.” Judy Koster says, “It
was a family operation. His dad worked there, his brother worked there, you’d see his kids there and
all their photos were up on the door to Bob’s office. It was just a really warm place.”
Auerbach admits the food’s quality didn’t hurt either. “I think, one day, I had all three meals there:
breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’m sure my wife won’t appreciate that, but it’s true!” he says with a chuckle.
“At a minimum, I’d be getting coffee and a bagel almost every day. I just liked being there.” Koster adds
“Aside from the slushies that my kids couldn’t do without, Bob made me feel like I was shopping at the
corner grocery—the way I remember it when I was growing up. He brought that feeling back. It wasn’t
like other White Hens. The same people always worked for Bob every year, even the people not related
to Bob! There wasn’t any turnover in the employees, and you hardly see that anymore.”
Shock and “Aw, No!”
On December 13th, 2007, Bob was forced out of his old location by the corporate powers that
be. The situation is best explained by Bob, in his own words. “It happened pretty much at a
moment’s notice. In a nutshell, 7-Eleven had bought out White Hen about a year and a half
before. I had three years left on my White Hen agreement. I could have continued operating as a
White Hen, then paid 7-Eleven a $125,000 franchise fee to switch to their name. I thought: ‘After
18 years, why should I pay to stay?’ It was kind of silly.
“I also had to fight pretty hard to keep the deli counter, which had always been a big draw at the
store and was a passion of mine. I don’t think the 7-Eleven people liked that, either—a deli case isn’t
something you see in a typical 7-Eleven. Well, in the interim, while everything was being worked out,
the White Hen people came up with an offer: ‘If you sign now and switch to 7-Eleven now, we’ll waive
the fee and do the remodeling.’ They would also let me keep the deli. That seemed like a great deal!
I could just move forward. I figured I’d give it a try.
“Well, five days before we were going to switch over, I was notified that 7-Eleven had found a
minor violation in my agreement. I was told that I had three options, none of them good. The first was
that they’d come in at 6 a.m. and take over the store—since I had been there for 18 years, they were
nice enough to give me the courtesy of notice. The second option was that I take care of the minor
violation within 24 hours. Well, that was physically impossible, and they knew it. My third option was
that I surrender the store immediately.
(continued on next page)
Holiday 2008 / 27