Speaker Bio

Robb and Madeleine Ahlquist
October 10, 2006 (Tuesday)
How to Feed a Business

Robb and Madeleine Ahlquist, founders of The Sole Proprietor and One Eleven Chop House, began their careers in the food service industry while they were both still students at Syracuse University.

They were working for the university's food services to help pay for their schooling when the university decided to seek greater student involvement in its operation. Robb was named the first Student Coordinator of the food service program, which had 400 employees, serving 20,000 meals a day in seven dining halls.

After graduating, he took a position as a manager at a company that owned two steak houses and was opening a third.

Based on the training he received at the steak houses, he decided to open his own restaurant. Robb and Madeleine spent a year looking for an ideal location for a restaurant. They wanted to locate in Massachusetts and decided that the Worcester market was underserved. They purchased the former Shannon's II at 118 Highland St and opened The Sole Proprietor in 1979.

"Our philosophy was that if we could provide a good product at a reasonable price, we could be successful," Robb said. Freshness was the third component of the Ahlquists' philosophy. Their approach of "Freshness Cut to Order™" caught on and helped make The Sole Proprietor the most successful restaurant in the Worcester area.

The Ahlquists redesigned The Sole Proprietor in the late 1980s and again in 2001. Yankee Food Service lists The Sole among the top 20 independent restaurants in Massachusetts, based on volume, and it is a perennial favorite of readers of Worcester Magazine, The Landmark and the Telegram & Gazette, which consistently classify the restaurant as the area's best seafood restaurant.

The Sole Proprietor has grown every year for more than 25 years and now serves 350,000 meals a year and has 85 full-time equivalent employees.

They opened One Eleven Chop House in 1999. One Eleven Chop House quickly became one of the most popular restaurants in central Massachusetts.

For more information about the Ahlquist's properties, log onto www.thesole.com.