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Staffing may be secret to restaurant success

Unless the wait service doesn't match what we expect or the food has an odd flavor, most of us don't pay much attention to restaurant staff.

Tom Bozonelos pays attention, however - though by profession he is not most of us: Bozonelos has been in the restaurant business since 1972, much of it spent along Hale St. between Front and Willow in downtown Wheaton.

And while Bozonelos' professional journey is interesting, two elements combine to set his business apart from others: Hard work, which is something of a success requirement in the restaurant and most every industry, and his commitment to employees, equally important but often ignored.

A little history helps.

Bozonelos was 16 when he arrived from Greece, and told his brother-in-law, Gus Spentzos, who owned the Wheaton Restaurant with a cousin, that he wanted to learn the language and improve himself.

"I had no language, no skills," Bozonelos recalls.

Spentzos pointed a finger toward the dishwashing machine. The unmistakable message: Start there.

Later, when Bozonelos wanted higher pay, Spentzos' finger pointed toward the cook. That message: Short order cooks make more money than dishwashers.

Bozonelos became a short-order cook, the first step up a family ladder that today centers on two Wheaton-based Egg'lectic Café restaurants that serve breakfast and lunch; one is in downtown Wheaton, where 'Round the Clock restaurant once held forth; the other is in the Town Square shopping center on Wheaton's south side.

A third Egg'lectic, in Rolling Meadows, was part of the business but "Three were too many," Bozonelos says. The restaurant was sold but retains the name.

Bozonelos is a hardworking but, in conversation at least, content restaurateur who shows a quiet pride in what he has accomplished.

Two things mark his journey. One is hard work.

"There's a misconception that you can make, and keep, a lot of money," Bozonelos says. "Most people who talk to me (about entering the restaurant business) have no idea what it takes to be successful.

"The restaurant becomes your life. You have to be willing to work hard. There's no 40-hour week, and the margins are very small."

There's precious little room for error: Food must be consistent - fresh, well prepared, nicely plated and served. Today's omelet, or soup or whatever needs to taste the same tomorrow as it did today.

Menu variety matters. So does cleanliness, not just to health inspectors but to customers.

Ultimately, though, the success Bozonelos has had in his 46-years in restaurants comes down to employees. Staffing may be the Bozonelos secret to success.

Although the makeup of the food service workforce leads to high turnover, it's not unheard of in the Bozonelos experience for employees to have long tenure. "On the personal level," Bozonelos says, "you have to treat employees as human beings. In order for someone to do a good job, they must be happy.

"They have to know that I'm here for them."

Work hard, treat employees well. Seems so simple, doesn't it?

• Follow Jim Kendall on LinkedIn and Twitter. Write him at Jim@kendallcom.com. Read Jim's Business Owners' Blog at www.kendallcom.com. © 2018 Kendall Communications Inc.

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