business & professional
Happy Homecoming
Team Schostak has 130 restaurants, but this one's special.
Allan Nahajewski
Contributing Writer
M
ark Schostak enjoyed helping to
create the murals for the new
Applebee's Neighborhood Grill
and Bar on Southfield and 12 Mile Road. It
was a trip down memory lane.
The murals feature local landmarks —
"the places where my brothers and I grew
up, the library, the parks, the schools," he
says.
Schostak grew up in Southfield, attend-
ed Hillel Day School and Southfield High,
before majoring in political science at the
University of Michigan. Today, he is execu-
tive chairman of Team Schostak Family
Restaurants, which includes 66 Applebee's,
60 Burger Kings, four Del Tacos and nearly
6,000 employees, all in Michigan. The
company also has joint venture investment
in 11 Olga's Kitchen restaurants.
Next on the horizon for the company
is MOD Pizza, a Seattle-based restaurant
that cooks custom-made pizzas in an
800-degree gas-fired oven in less than five
minutes. Twenty-five MOD pizza outlets
are planned in Michigan with the first
two to launch in Livonia this summer and
Northville this fall.
The Schostak family business is a story
of four generations. Mark's grandfather
Louis, who came to Michigan from the
Ukraine, started a real estate company
in 1920. His son, Jerome, followed in his
footsteps. Jerome's three sons — Robert,
David and Mark — also joined in. David
runs the real estate business. Robert, who
has just completed two terms as chairman
of the Michigan Republican Party, is no
longer involved in day-to-day operations,
but his son Jeff works for his uncle David,
while his son Jake, who has five years of
restaurant industry experience, has just
joined the family business to be the brand
leader for the MOD Pizza operations.
The company got into the restaurant
business in 1981 when it opened a Burger
King in Alpena with family friend and
then-partner Elliot Baum.
"Interest rates were very high at the
time, and Burger King Corporation could
not find a franchisee," Mark recalls. "We
really didn't want to open up something
three hours away from our hometown,
but our family owned the real estate, so
it just made a lot of sense for us to be the
36
February 12 • 2015
Mark Schostak at the Applebee's in Southfield
franchisee."
Soon, the family began to open other
Burger Kings in small towns in northern
and central Michigan.
"Our experience in small towns taught
us a lot," Schostak says. "In a small town,
it's really important to delight the guests,
because if you don't, everybody knows
about it. By the same token, if you really
take care of the guests and treat them spe-
cial, you become an important part of the
town."
The family bought its Applebee's restau-
rants in 2012. The franchises were sold by
Applebee's International after the company
was purchased by IHOP (International
House of Pancakes).
"One of the key parts of our business
case for the Applebee's was to invest in
renovation," Schostak says. "Many business
owners might be afraid of reinvesting a lot
of money into something like this, but for
us, rebuilding a restaurant is getting a new
lease on life. Also, during that process, we
could re-engage with the communities by
applying the restaurant marketing skills
we learned in the small towns."
The Applebee's in Southfield, which
opened in November, typifies the new look
for the restaurant. Large-screen TVs sur-
round an open, airy bar with tall tables.
"We're working hard on attracting a new
generation of customers — the millennials
who, through social media, tend to meet
in groups and travel in packs," Schostak
says. "We still want our core baby boomer
customers to feel comfortable here, so
we're providing an atmosphere for them
as well."
A vision, mission and four key values
are at the root of the company's success,
says Schostak.
The vision: "Lead the way. Be a great
company." The mission: Team Schostak
Family Restaurants is dedicated to attract-
ing, developing and retaining the most
talented work force in the industry that
proudly delights our guests and increases
company profits. The four values: "Our
People," "Delight Our Guests," "Act with
Integrity" and "Achieve Results."
"Each day, as we try to live our mis-
sion and execute against our vision, we're
going to have tough decisions to make, so
we need some behaviors or guardrails,"
Schostak says. "This is our road map. We
talk about it all the time."
Several years ago, the company launched
its own university at its support center in
Livonia. Every newly promoted restaurant
manager takes part in a two-day course
focusing on the vision, mission, values and
culture of the company.
Community involvement is another part
of the company's success strategy.
"From our small-town experience, we
learned how important it was to be part of
the fabric of the community," Schostak says.
"Many small-town school programs lack
resources and rely on businesses to contrib-
ute, so we learned how to get engaged in
the right way."
The Schostak family is active at Adat
Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills
and in supporting Hillel Day School,
Akiva Hebrew Day School, Frankel Jewish
Academy, University of Michigan and
Oakland University.
What's next for the company?
"We're going to continue to leverage our
culture to grow our business," Schostak
says. "We're locally owned, and that's
important. People want to visit and patron-
ize locally owned restaurants. It's important
for us to invest in our existing markets.
That's why we're adding MOD Pizza to our
mix. We know the communities. We know
who the great restaurant managers are. Our
future is to grow our existing brands, and
we'll look for other opportunities to layer in
more brands."
Schostak says he eats in his company's
restaurants several times each week with
one purpose in mind.
"My goal is to be proud to walk into any
of our restaurants and say my family owns
this place," he says.
❑
>> memos
Hutton
Roth
Maddin, Hauser, Roth & Heller
PC, a Southfield-based law firm,
has named Rachel A. Hutton and
Jesse L. Roth as associate attor-
neys. Hutton is a member of the
firm's Corporate and Employment
Practice Group, who focuses her
practice on corporate, employment
and real estate matters. Roth is a
member of the firm's Defense and
Insurance Coverage Practice Group.