What do you know? Iron Horse is back in the food business. We’ve been here before. The most notable boondoggle was the Iron Horse Coffee stand. I wouldn’t call it an abject failure, but most would. We lost money, disappointed customers, looked dumb and incompetent. Ok, clarification, it was me that looked dumb and incompetent, it was me. I must think egg on my face is a good look. Or I like eating crow. Or feasting on shitburgers. I’m getting stuck on analogies.
Let’s move on.
Then came the Iron Horse pub. That place was awesome. I still miss the place and the menu. Very much. There were great years down there. We made some money, lost some. We pleased customers. Except for that one guy who said the interior looked like a “cheap knock-off Chipotle.” That insult has lived rent-free in my head ever since. I hear many fond memories from customers who I see now that used to go there. I feel joy thinking of that place and sadness noticing its absence. The Pub was a place where a person could make a new friend, join a party, get into a bike fight. Except burgers. You could not get a burger for a long time. My bad.
Anyway
Let’s talk about Swiftfired Pizza Co.
What a sordid affair that will be.
About a year and a half ago, I got a call from Corinne, the prior owner of Swiftfired. I was recruiting them to the Iron Horse village. In what is now reminiscent of the Bad Granny acquisition, (insert image of Greg anxiously biting his nails as this realization just now sets in) she said ‘how about you buy the business?’ In my usual enthusiast fashion, I thought “fuck yeah, let’s do this!” What I said was a little more measured. Probably.
Now this is a story of the Father-Son relationship. Or business partner. I can’t be sure. When I expressed the opportunity to my ‘business partner’ his fatherly ways stepped in.
Gary – ‘you will probably screw this up. Your team is overloaded, I’m going to buy it.”
Damn you, Dad. But, even at 45 years old when Dad takes a stand, I’m just a little kid standing in the face of ultimate authority. It gave me cover that my team expressed many concerns about our bandwidth to take it on. Face saved.
Gary’s pizza co. it was. DBA Swiftfired Pizza.
So, at 82 Gary took the reins. He and Laury ran the show, and to their credit, people loved it. Rave reviews. “Best pizza in town!” “So good!” “Thank God Greg didn’t get his hands on it.” Ouch. Accurate, but ouch. But Gary has now found operating a small restaurant is a bit more demanding than the not-so-silent business partner was looking to commit to.
Passing the reins, but not the Iron Horse Reins. Analogies.
I’m getting my hands on it now and with a team of enthusiastic and willing teammates, including one who works at both places already!
Here we go. And, I want to make something clear: I think my dad’s a business visionary genius. Business operating genius? Wrong blog to explore that. I don’t believe in failure as much as I believe in outcomes I don’t like that teach me to produce outcomes I do like. That’s how I think about this business, this team, and this next phase.
I like this outcome.
I’m excited for my team to take on this new venture. We’re keeping the pizza. We’re keeping the crew. Everything else? Could change. Probably will. Hopefully in ways you like better. I’m excited to add components and complexity to the wild ecosystem of businesses that comprise the entirety of Iron Horse. I’m excited to welcome the inevitable ‘unwelcome outcomes’ and make a more fun and interconnected business community from them.
And if we ‘screw it up’?
Well, there’s always crow on the Menu
