Wednesday, October 21, 2015 // The Statement
6C
Graduate and CEO: Alumni-owned Ann Arbor Businesses
by Melina Glusac, Daily Arts Writer
F
iddling with life aspirations and career possibilities is
a habit of most daydreaming underclassmen. But by
the time senior year hits, reality sets in: professional
success is no longer an elusive figment of the future, but a
rapidly approaching goal — a must.
“I think it’s funny looking back at that last semester in
college,” Robby Mayer, co-owner of Salads UP, said. “It was
almost like trying to learn as much as you can just to justify
to your parents — or at least I was, that I was not going to get
a job, that I was going to open up a restaurant.”
And so goes the story for three local food-business own-
ers and University of Michigan alumni: Mayer, Max Steir and
Nick Lemmer. They took the plunge, and for them, the risk
has paid off.
Lemmer, twenty-four years old and graduate of the School
of Information, co-owns Iorio’s Gelateria on East William
Street. Along with his older sister, Mary, a Business School
graduate, Lemmer has been selling what he calls “Italian
ice” since childhood, after spending summers in New Jersey
where the treat was rife.
The idea to peddle it around Lansing, their hometown,
came when the Italian-American duo’s father bought them
a cart in 2004. They began selling their product anywhere
they could afford the entrance fee: carnivals, fairs, farmer’s
markets, etc. After the two gained some traction, people
started asking where they could indulge in ice year-round.
By the time Lemmer was a sophomore, he was beginning to
form an answer to that question.
“Mary had networked herself really well in the business
school,” Lemmer said. “She had met a building owner down-
town — this building — and they had an open spot — this spot
— and he said, ‘I know you guys are doing Lansing, but do you
want to try it in Ann Arbor?’ Knowing nothing, not knowing
what our first step would be, we were like, ‘Yeah, sure. Why
not?’”
Following a lot of trial and error, Iorio’s Gelateria officially
opened up in 2011. The process wasn’t all smooth sailing,
though. They failed their first city inspection the day before
opening because one grease trap was misplaced.
“That was kind of the hardest thing that happened, just
facing the reality that we actually might not open. One thing
I have learned is that hiring really good people to start, and
spending time on that, really helps because we’ve always had
a really good team. And that just makes everything easier,”
Lemmer said.
Steir and Mayer of Salads UP on East Liberty faced similar
issues with the technicalities of opening up their business.
“We signed the lease without realizing the deficiencies of
the space to their fullest,” Mayer said. “As we went on we
realized — we ended up having to do completely new plumb-
ing, electric. We put in a brand new floor. The construction
requirements for such a small space were something we
never want to deal with again. But getting through that pro-
cess — which took six to eight months — was very compli-
cated.”
Mayer, a northern New Jersey native, and Steir, a native of
New York City, met each other as freshman year roommates.
For the 24-year-olds, the idea for Salads UP sparked early on,
as they felt a great salad place (a la NYC’s Revive) was miss-
ing during their time at the University.
It all started to come to fruition late senior year, when
Mayer began hunting for local real estate, toying around
with the idea of a restaurant. The two met to discuss it, and
Steir jumped in from there. Salads UP came to be in Decem-
ber 2014.
Steir cites his Business school education in giving him
business-minded versatility.
“They’re kind of preparing you without realizing it, in my
opinion, to run your own company, if you digest all of the
coursework that you have there,” Steir said. “There’s finance
— it might set you up to be a banker. There’s marketing if you
want to be in advertisement. But you do everything when you
run a company, no matter if it’s a restaurant or something
else.”
Lemmer also recalls a tidbit of info, gleaned in college,
which now eases his shop’s customer experience.
“I was sitting in an engineering ergonomics class, and we
were talking about eyesight, like how big text should be,”
Lemmer said. “The rule is called the Bond Rule, like James
Bond — 007. It’s a ratio, of sorts; it’s how big the text has to
be on the wall as to how far you’re standing away, where you
can comfortably read it.”
He proudly gestured to the menu on the wall.
“When I was designing that menu, I was like, ‘Oh my god.
I learned about this engineering class,’” Lemmer said.
All three entrepreneurs admit they owe much of their
success to the charm and benefits of living on their college
campus.
“The nicest thing about being here, despite that fact that
it’s a university we went to, is that it’s this nice mix of calm,
quaint, but also vibrant at times,” Steir said.
“People care so much about this community that we’re all
so connected to. When you’re alumni, you’re connected to
this place for life, whether you have a business here or not.
So to be in the midst of it is fantastic.”
Mayer echoes similar sentiments of home.
“It’s very comfortable, I would say. Having been here for
four years, you know the neighborhood so well,” Mayer said.
“Whether it’s game day or move-in or graduation, there’s
always something happening, a lot of flow and excitement. I
think living here post-college you still feed off a lot of that.”
Lemmer revels at being so close to students — a perk other
businesses in non-college towns are denied.
“There’s a few things that we do here that we’ve actually
taken from a semester-long project from a marketing class, a
consulting group, an operations class. There were graduate
students doing inventory operations for us — it’s hysterical.
And for free,” Lemmer said.
So for those who wish to follow in the footsteps of Ann
Arbor’s young entrepreneurs, he offers one bit of advice.
“I would say just to do it,” Lemmer said. “I couldn’t tell you
how many people come to me with an idea, or have an idea,
and then they just sit on it. I’m the dumb one — the crazy one
— that’ll come up with an idea and just do it.”
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
University alum Nick Lemmer, a co-owner of Iorio’s Gelato, discusses the process of starting a business out of college.