The best is the R's Big Breakfast Special. And nighttime, people really like the chicken piccata or ahi tuna. In the morning, the French toast is popular. We distinguish ourselves by serving healthy food and doing proper food combining thanks to Donna's guidance. We have servers that have worked here for 16 years, eight years, cooks in the back that have worked here for six years. Part of your success comes from your staff, and you have several long-term employees.Ĭesar Villanueva, our general manager, has been working here since 1995.
We were very organized with buying philosophies and finding those fresh health foods such as quinoa and coconut oil, and now we've got it under control. But we just kept the plan moving and we began to grow, and in the last 15 years the restaurant has gotten better every year. The southern appetite was more dangerous than the California appetite at the time. Donna helped me build a very healthy concept.Įventually the concept did catch on. You call Sysco 30 years ago and say, "Send me some quinoa and amaranth flour," and they hang up on you. When we switched concepts, we started using coconut oil, clarified butter, amaranth flour, quinoa, blue corn pozole.
You stay in the same place and make it work, and eventually it will begin to catch on. My philosophy is if you aren't getting good business, you just need more time. Those first few years you didn't have much business, but you never gave up. She told me, "You have poisoned more people in America selling your food." I was willing to change, so I said, "Help me." So she came aboard, and for six months we worked in the kitchen and began to bring healthy food to the table. My lawyer Jeff Gates introduced me to his wife Donna, a nutritionist. How did you go from burger joint to health food? Thomas, modeled after a California burger joint called Hamburger Mary's. My son was getting ready to graduate high school and said he wanted to work with me because he would learn more than college. I spent a lot of time in California, where there were a few places that were neat and healthy. What did you do until 1985, when you opened R. I owned a few Wendy's and Pizza Huts in between, and in 1982 I sold them all. I met a friend who invested some money in the restaurant and renamed it Bojangles. I then started a little company in Charlotte, North Carolina called Sunny's Chicken, but it didn't do well. I couldn't get along with John, the new president so I retired in 1975. He said, "You got it!" By 1968, I got my wife involved and we had six stores.įrom there you became President of Operations, running 600 stores. What do you want?" I told him I wanted a franchise in Southwestern Michigan. Then the real gardener showed up and Colonel comes up to me and said, "You're not the gardener. He asked, "Are you the gardener? I want all the dandelions pulled." I'm a gardener anyway, so I got to work. Pretty soon there's a bang on my window and there stood Colonel Sanders, fully dressed. I was tired and no one was around, so I took a little nap in my car. At six o'clock in the morning, I pulled up to a big beautiful mansion that housed Kentucky Fried Chicken's offices. I kept thinking about how damn good that chicken was, and the next day I got in my truck and drove to Shelby, Kentucky. I'm busy, bye!" And he hung up.ĭespite the cold exchange, you didn't give up? An old man answered, and I said, "I'm interested in talking to somebody about getting a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Michigan." He said, "Michigan is all sold out. I looked on the barrel and saw Kentucky Fried Chicken- Shelby, Kentucky. The chicken I made was very good, but when I got that barrel of chicken it scared the shit out of me. In 1964, you ate Kentucky Fried Chicken for the first time, and your dreams of opening your own chicken business changed.
I always admired him, and when he died I took over the business. My dad owned a concession stand at a softball stadium, and he told me to run it. When I was ten, I worked my first food service job. Your dad worked in the restaurant business, too. We sat down with Richard Thomas himself and learned about his history from fast-food chain to healthy restaurant owner. In fact, the restaurant has stayed open since 1985, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
And when you get a hankering for fresh fish tacos at 2 a.m., R. How about a superfood quinoa bowl at 3:15 p.m., when most restaurants' lunch service has ended? R. Craving a fresh smoothie before work at 7 a.m.? R.