Lane Community College

Photo by Nick Wiley

Happys Soul Food

Derrick Pruitt explains, Working with both Frank and Gary [of the SBDC] has had the most impact on my business. Without their help, guidance and mentorship there is no Happys Java and Soul Food Shack. See page 14 for story.

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Persistent Business Man Beats Odds with Soul Food

by Cecile P. Haworth
Derrick Pruitt, owner of Happys Java & Soul Food Shack sells the unheard ofhome-cooked meals from a drive-up kiosk. After a near-fatal hit and run accident in 2008, resulting in a head injury, he was told he would never work again. Defying the odds, he built his own innovative and successful coffee, barbecue and soul food business in Springfield. Pruitt is a humble man and takes little credit for his success. He credits his wife, Marcella Pruitthis business partner, and they both credit the Lane Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Pruitt, or Happy as his fans call him, describes his menu, saying Most of these recipes have been in my family for over 100 years. My specialties include Alabama-style barbecue and smoked meat, soul food dishes, Belgian sweet potato waffles, real fruit smoothies and fresh hand-roasted coffee. I make all of my own seasonings and sauces from scratchthat is very unique. At first glance, the interior of the tiny 320 square foot kiosk, with its two drive-up windows, looks like grandmas kitchen. One wall is covered with a collection of cooking utensils and spices. Other walls are filled with shiny new equipment. Pruitt explains, My kitchen is as high-tech as anybody in the world. Nobody has a more advanced kitchen. He has state-of-the-art smokers, ovens, coffee roaster and Belgian waffle irons. Pruitt laughs and adds, My equipment is like technology from the Jetsons, you know, the cartoon. Home-cooked food amazingly appears

in seconds, just like in the popular cartoon from the 60s. Brownies bake from dough in six seconds. The ovens use a combination of convection, microwave and impinged air. Inside, a blower moves the air at 75 miles an hour. The oven cooks incredibly fast and still produces the browning and full flavor of conventional cooking. The speedy home-cooked meals contrast with the Pruitts long, challenging and sometimes painful struggle, as they worked to build their dream business. The couple insists they would not be in business without the support of Gary Smith, instructor/coach of the SBDCs Small Business Management Program (SBM) and Frank Plaisted, assistant instructor. As Derrick Pruitt explains, Working with both Frank and Gary [of the SBDC] has had the most impact on my business. Without their help, guidance and mentorship there is no Happys Java and Soul Food ShackGary and Frank together are just genius. Plaisted questions the genius comment. He believes the key to Pruitts success is his willingness to ask for advice and help. According to the advisor, Derrick keeps adapting his plan. He is willing to listen to advice and learn adjusting to changing circumstances. Credit for success aside, Pruitt could not have asked for help from two better-suited professionals. Smith has had a string of successful businesses, including a restaurant. Plaisted, a retired engineer, is also the SBDCs New Product Development Program Director. He helped Pruitt fine-tune his business plan, which delivers the finest and most authentic home-cooked soul food, to people on the run. The business plan grew in response to Pruitts ability to adjust and adapt. Five years ago, Pruitt was in a life-changing hit and run accidenthe nearly died. With a major head-injury and serious injury to his body, professionals told him he would be permanently disabled and his memory would never return. Pruitt recalls, All my doctors, social security and physical therapists told me that I would never be able to work again and I told them you dont know who I am. Pruitt spent almost three years in rehabilitation, going through intensive cognitive and physical therapy. He worked with a cognitive trainer, a couple times a week, to regain memory and improve thinking. As Pruitt struggled, It became clear I would not be able to return to a sales career in the RV industry. After 25 years in sales and management with a high-end RV company, Pruitt was faced with the challenge of finding a new way to support his family. He was referred to the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (OVRS), with the state

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Fall 2013

of Oregon, which often partners with SBDCs throughout Oregon. OVRS helps people with disabilities find and keep jobs that match their skills, interests and abilities. Pruitt worked with Brian Campbell, who helped him to regain confidence and according to Pruitt, he taught me to focus on what I could do based on my new physical/ mental limitations. Pruitt focused on experience from his past that he might be able to bring forward. While in the RV industry, Pruitt had given potential and existing customers bagged fresh-roasted Kona coffee, to establish and maintain connections. Pruitt was going through so much coffee, he bought his own roasting equipment and learned how to roast beans to keep the costs down. Believing the beans could be roasted better, he sought help for improving his skills. He attended the Specialty Coffee Association of America and became a certified Master Roaster. With greater roasting skills, he needed better roasting equipment. After more research, he purchased professional topquality equipment. His new coffee was so outstanding that customers who traveled the country in RVs started buying bags and then reselling it. Pruitt explains, I try to do the best in the world of everythingif I cant afford to do that at the time, then I wait This attitude of doing the best led to his first coffee-roasting business. With the need for a new livelihood, Pruitt hoped the equipment and attitude would lead to a second business. OVRS sent Pruitt to the American Coffee and Barista School in Portland, for a week-long training on coffee, business and cost-management. He then attended the International Coffee festival, in Seattle for additional training. Pruitt explains while he had improved his knowledge of coffee, he lacked business knowledge. He was encouraged to contact Lanes Small Business Development Center. Pruitt first came to the SBDC in December of 2009. He initially met with Bill Sarnoff, to get help in writing a business plan. He hoped to fulfill requirements for Self Employment Assistance offered through WorkSource Oregon, a collaborative program between the Oregon Employment Department and the SBDCs. Pruitt planned to open a coffee stand in Springfield, roasting coffee beans on site and selling brewed drinks. Since he enjoyed cooking, he would possibly add food later. After working on the plan for a year, he was referred on to another advisor, who happened to be Frank Plaisted. In December of 2010 they began working together, fine-tuning his business plan and addressing startup issues. By the time Plaisted met with Pruitt, the entrepreneur had established a history of deciding on courses of action and finding resources to complete them. According to Plaisted, this take-action quality in Pruitt helped him achieve the impossible. He asks questions, digs deeper, goes out and does research, finds out info, calls people up. He has a bias-foraction. He doesnt just sit and contemplate. This bias for action propelled Pruitt on as he met barrier after barrier in his business. In the spring of 2011, Pruitt started selling bagged beans and brewed coffee at Springfield and Eugenes farmers markets. As he began to sell, however, Pruitt became frustrated, realizing his lack of capital was holding the business back. Pruitts medical problems and unemployment had wreaked havoc on his familys financial situation. They went through their entire savings. Their good credit had turned to bad and they had no equity in their home. They were discouraged by their inability to get funds for building the business. Early on, Plaisted and Pruitt focused on financing. Since his initial meeting with Plaisted, the year before, Pruitt had been working with Vocational Rehabilitation Services to get a $10,000 grant for opening a coffee kiosk. A business plan was one of the major requirements of the grant application. The plan was finally finished in the summer of 2011. Anticipating funding, Plaisted recommended the Pruitts join the three-year Small Business Management (SBM) program, for additional help with growing their business. The couple entered the SBM cohort in the fall of 2011. (Continued on page 22) 15

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Later that fall, the Pruitts received the grant from Vocational Rehabilitation. The grant allowed them to open their first location at 21st and Main, in early 2012. They opened while continuing to sell at the Eugene and Springfield Farmers markets. Both Derrick and Marcella worked full time, six days a week, from 9 am until 7 pm. During the SBM programs first year, the Pruitts were in transition with their business. Pruitt talks about his experience with the program, We worked all day and then went to class. The SBDC has so much information. Pruitt explained, Gary Smith, the program director, helped me to fine tune the systems I had in place. Pruitt says he has great appreciation for Smith and Plaisteds experience and knowledge. Pruitt has come to realize the SBDC staff really cares about him and his business success. He adds, They have helped with the facility, what margins should beI dont like making moves without checking with the guys at the SBDC. He then explains he didnt always check with them first and learned the hard way he should get other opinions before making big changes. After receiving the grant, the Pruitts chose a location and signed a lease without consulting with advisors. There were many problems with the location. The coffee kiosk was difficult if not impossible to see. Also, it was so small they would be unable to roast beans or prepare food on site. We were in a bad location. We were losing money hand over fist. We were there a year after visiting with Gary Smith I realized that location would never be successful, so I followed his advice. They quickly found a new location and moved to their current location at 42nd and Main on December 1, 2012. With the move to the new location, they found themselves spread so thin, they left the SBM

program at the years end. According to Pruitt, We were opening up in the new location and it was just too much to try to do all of it. Now they are settled in their new location and have plans to return to the SBM program. Pruitt adds, I am always telling other people about the SBDC services. I know the value of that [SBM] program and no one or nothing can stop me from completing it. Until Pruitt can participate in the SBM program again, he meets with Plaisted regularly. It is so important to him that he schedules his next appointment as he is leaving a finished session. Pruitt is sold on having a business advisor who is a sounding board for new ideas. Everything I thought I knew I didnt knowFrank was always willing to go where I wanted to go, but always double-checked are you sure you want to go there? Happys Java & Soul Food is making a healthy profit now. I am very blessed. Every customer I meet is a life-long customer as long as I keep doing what the SBDC tells me, be myself and serve great food. For Pruitt, that means continuing his proactive style of seeking out perfection. Pruitt has a guarantee to his customers, Everything must be exceptional or it is free. If it is just goodthats not good enough. Pruitt says customers frequently tell him they just cant get his food out of their head. It tastes so deliciousthe memory of it sticks with them and keeps bringing them back to his kiosk. The Pruitts go to great lengths to make sure their food and drink taste exceptional. They hand-roast and blend gourmet coffee beans, in small batches. Their natural syrups, sauces and purees come from a Bend company that buys primarily Oregon-grown fruit. The meat comes from a ranch in the Siskiyous that grows only free-range and grass-fed animals. Happys Java & Soul Food Shack has no heated holding bins. Each dish is literally made to order. A refrigerator is filled full of fresh foods every morning and by the end of the day it is empty. Always working towards exceptional, Pruitts latest innovation improves wait time. Orders can be placed online through happysjava.com, Facebook and smart phone apps. Pruitt talks excitedly about the latest changes, saying the highly positive internet chat, his online specials and improved customer service are all generating new sales and loyal customers. Happys Java & Soul Food is ranking high on the internet, with multiple five-star reviews through Yelp. Pruitt reflects on his success, My greatest victory is proving them [the doctors] wrong the best I can every day.

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