When I was still learning the restaurant business at the Carriage House,  I had an interruption.  Uncle Sam had a military call up because of the cold war with Russia and the infamous Berlin Wall.  I was called back into the service to serve with the 937th Troop Carrier Group.  Fortunately (really a God thing) we were stationed at Tinker AFB, OK and I was still able to keep a limited eye on my business.  A year later we were released from active duty and I stayed in the Air Force Reserve.

In 1967 I was contacted by the Val Gene Restaurant Company concerning a unique business opportunity..  They had designed a new food concept called NEXT DOOR and had sold the rights to Pizza Hut Corporation in Wichita, KS.  One of the conditions of the Pizza Hut contract with Val Gene was for them to furnish a manager to develop the expansion.  I was contacted by Bob Clift of Val Genes to be the director of the Next Door concept for Pizza Hut.  So Jane, Debra, Sally, Patricia and I moved to Wichita Kansas.

The Next Door had a  menu centered around eight varieties of charcoal broiled hamburgers and complemented by quick easy to prepare food items.  A phone at each table allowed the customer to place their order to the kitchen when they were ready, a real fun way to order.  The family atmosphere, menu and décor was conducive to our patronage.

FAMILY FUN NEXT DOOR

My first assignment from Frank Carney, President Pizza Hut, was to train managers for their expansion, fast!  In the next two years we opened 16 Next Doors, spread from Fort Lauderdale, FL. to Los Angeles  CA.  It was too fast and far apart.  If we had gone slower and concentrated growth in a  500 mile radius,  it would have been manageable.  Years later when I was teaching in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Admin. at Oklahoma State University, I had great classroom lesson on “how to NOT to start a new franchise”.  Pizza Hut also started two other new concepts, Taco Boy and Flaming Steer, at the same time as the Next Door.  All three concepts were labor intensive, especially compared to their Pizza Hut stores.  Later the board of directors decided to not  go with any of the three concepts.  They offered me a corporate position in the Pizza division, but I declined.  I asked to buy the Next Door located in Enid, OK.  It was a wonderful opportunity for my family and my career.

Back in Enid Oklahoma  the Next Door was well received.  We soon expanded to a second location on the north side of town and changed the name of the first location to Garfield Grill.  My son-in-law, Bill Shaw joined us as the General Manager.  In the next 25 years we proved the original Next Door concept was sound.  If Pizza Hut officers had taken expansion a little slower and not spread the stores so far from Wichita, they also would have had a winning concept to offer their franchisees. It was a wonderful trip, even with the number of ups and downs you experience in this crazy business.  It helped get our three daughters through college, even though at times I did not know if we could cook enough hamburgers to make that happen.  These restaurant experiences led to an invitation to be an Adjunct Professor and later the Interim Director of the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration at OSU (I believe that also was a God thing).

Jim