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MOTIVATION
Guts & Glory
Feeding the Soul
For Yvonne Parker, success has never tasted more delicious
Pittershawn Palmer
Yvonne Parker has been wining and dining folks for 15 years. As owner of Yvonne's Southern Cuisine, a comfy, Southern-style restaurant in Pelham, New York, she oversees the down-home spot where a great meal and great music4from her house band The Etherial Jazz Quartet go hand in hand. Her delicious repasts are a testament to her dedication and love for things culinary. With a classic soul food menu of barbecued ribs, smothered chicken, oxtails, fried chicken, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, and more, you can't help but want to sample everything on the menu.
What started as a seven-seater storefront is today a two-floor, 200-seat restaurant with all the trimmings. Reaching this level of prosperity was far from simple, however.
Parker and her husband, Larry, began their venture in the summer of 1986 with a dream and $15,000 in start-up capital that they borrowed from friends and family.
Yvonne's was one of the first black-owned businesses in Pelham, but it was originally called Empire Food and Management. "People thought it was a Chinese restaurant," exclaims Parker. It would take several years and a name change before the business' profit margin increased from $300 a day to more than $1,000 a day.
On a personal front, Parker's situation took a turn for the worst in 1993 when her husband fell ill and was hospitalized. "I didn't know anything about the details of the business and my husband was dying," recalls Yvonne. "He told me to continue with the restaurant no matter what happened. I visited him every day to get advice on managing every aspect of the business."
After six months of seeking her husband's advice, Parker realized she couldn't run the business that way much longer. "I told him that I was ready to take on the business alone and that he could rest now. He died the next day."
Still in mourning, Parker walked into the restaurant one day and was shocked. It had rained hard the night before and the ceiling had caved in. "I just sat down and cried," she remembers. Determined to pull herself4and the business4together, she made some changes, starting with the restaurant's name: Empire Food became Yvonne's Southern Cuisine. That action alone tripled her clientele, she says.
As business picked up, the space Yvonne's occupied soon became claustrophobic. Parker needed more room but couldn't get any bank loans to expand. Undaunted, she discussed her concerns with her sister, Evelyn Hall, and her brother-in-law, Armel Desir. Given Desir's business sense and Hall's dedication, Parker knew that a partnership with them would help boost the business. With a $150,000 investment in the restaurant, the two family members became partners in November 1999.
As luck would have it, the owner of a building just down the street had put his property up for sale. A mutually satisfactory agreement was eventually reached, and Parker became the owner of the 200-person capacity building.
Fifteen years of valleys and very few peaks have finally yielded rewards. Revenues reached $1.9 million in 2000, and Parker predicts that revenues will surpass $3 million by the end of this year. "We are looking to expand the business and open another restaurant," she says.
Today, Yvonne's is adorned with photographs of famous visitors. Bill Cosby and R&B songstress Mary J. Blige have enjoyed Parker's Southern hospitality, and she counts Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis among her regulars.
Yvonne's Southern Cuisine has come a long way, and Parker's husband's dream has become a reality.
B.E.'s SUCCESSPERT SPEAKS:
"Parker's story shows that true success is endurance over time and that microwave success only produces half-baked temporary realities and tougher tomorrows," says Kevin Ross, a Miami-based motivational speaker, personal empowerment consultant (www.kevinrossspeaks.com), and founder of the Student Empowerment Connection, an organization targeted at inner-city youth. Here are more priceless pearls from Ross:
See it! Learn to detach from the hustle and bustle of life and, unexpectedly, without your conscious participation, solutions will reveal themselves to you.
Change it! If your present designation in life or business does not provide optimum opportunity for exponential growth4as Parker found with the name of her business4change it. Self-designation determines direction and destiny.
Work it! Consistent plus persistent disciplined progress in the direction of your set goals will ensure success.
Guts & Glory
Feeding the Soul
For Yvonne Parker, success has never tasted more delicious
Pittershawn Palmer
Yvonne Parker has been wining and dining folks for 15 years. As owner of Yvonne's Southern Cuisine, a comfy, Southern-style restaurant in Pelham, New York, she oversees the down-home spot where a great meal and great music4from her house band The Etherial Jazz Quartet go hand in hand. Her delicious repasts are a testament to her dedication and love for things culinary. With a classic soul food menu of barbecued ribs, smothered chicken, oxtails, fried chicken, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, and more, you can't help but want to sample everything on the menu.
What started as a seven-seater storefront is today a two-floor, 200-seat restaurant with all the trimmings. Reaching this level of prosperity was far from simple, however.
Parker and her husband, Larry, began their venture in the summer of 1986 with a dream and $15,000 in start-up capital that they borrowed from friends and family.
Yvonne's was one of the first black-owned businesses in Pelham, but it was originally called Empire Food and Management. "People thought it was a Chinese restaurant," exclaims Parker. It would take several years and a name change before the business' profit margin increased from $300 a day to more than $1,000 a day.
On a personal front, Parker's situation took a turn for the worst in 1993 when her husband fell ill and was hospitalized. "I didn't know anything about the details of the business and my husband was dying," recalls Yvonne. "He told me to continue with the restaurant no matter what happened. I visited him every day to get advice on managing every aspect of the business."
After six months of seeking her husband's advice, Parker realized she couldn't run the business that way much longer. "I told him that I was ready to take on the business alone and that he could rest now. He died the next day."
Still in mourning, Parker walked into the restaurant one day and was shocked. It had rained hard the night before and the ceiling had caved in. "I just sat down and cried," she remembers. Determined to pull herself4and the business4together, she made some changes, starting with the restaurant's name: Empire Food became Yvonne's Southern Cuisine. That action alone tripled her clientele, she says.
As business picked up, the space Yvonne's occupied soon became claustrophobic. Parker needed more room but couldn't get any bank loans to expand. Undaunted, she discussed her concerns with her sister, Evelyn Hall, and her brother-in-law, Armel Desir. Given Desir's business sense and Hall's dedication, Parker knew that a partnership with them would help boost the business. With a $150,000 investment in the restaurant, the two family members became partners in November 1999.
As luck would have it, the owner of a building just down the street had put his property up for sale. A mutually satisfactory agreement was eventually reached, and Parker became the owner of the 200-person capacity building.
Fifteen years of valleys and very few peaks have finally yielded rewards. Revenues reached $1.9 million in 2000, and Parker predicts that revenues will surpass $3 million by the end of this year. "We are looking to expand the business and open another restaurant," she says.
Today, Yvonne's is adorned with photographs of famous visitors. Bill Cosby and R&B songstress Mary J. Blige have enjoyed Parker's Southern hospitality, and she counts Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis among her regulars.
Yvonne's Southern Cuisine has come a long way, and Parker's husband's dream has become a reality.
B.E.'s SUCCESSPERT SPEAKS:
"Parker's story shows that true success is endurance over time and that microwave success only produces half-baked temporary realities and tougher tomorrows," says Kevin Ross, a Miami-based motivational speaker, personal empowerment consultant (www.kevinrossspeaks.com), and founder of the Student Empowerment Connection, an organization targeted at inner-city youth. Here are more priceless pearls from Ross:
See it! Learn to detach from the hustle and bustle of life and, unexpectedly, without your conscious participation, solutions will reveal themselves to you.
Change it! If your present designation in life or business does not provide optimum opportunity for exponential growth4as Parker found with the name of her business4change it. Self-designation determines direction and destiny.
Work it! Consistent plus persistent disciplined progress in the direction of your set goals will ensure success.
