110 degrees magazine - Index

110 degrees magazine - magazine - Index

BLOOM I BY DON HUNTINGTON I PHOTOS BY RUSSELL BYRNE
WE’RE
WILLY’S BAGELS
I spoke with Ron & Karen Richardson, and with
their two sons, Ryan and Scott. The family took
over Willy’s Bagels in January 2005. They carried
the Willy’s name from the previous owner.
The initial improvements were under the horizon
for most customers. You don’t want to mess
with perfection so, for example, they didn’t
change the meats at all. “Our roast beef, turkey,
pastrami, ham, and bacon are simply the best
there is,” son Ryan said. They also preserved the
original owners’ winning combination of recipes,
service, and quality.
At first the Richardson family simply updated
the equipment and painted and refurbished the
store. Later they moved towards a delicatessentype
business, offering a variety of coffees,
smoothies, and sandwiches, plus a complete line
of baked goods including muffins, donuts, twists,
scones, cinnamon rolls, and an Asiago cheese
bread with a Willy’s twist. Last September they
opened a new Willy’s Bagels and Blends #2 across
from Heritage High School.
In 2007 Willy’s Bagels earned the coveted
Business of the Year Award from the Brentwood
Chamber of Commerce.
The Brentwood Press has awarded Willy’s
Bagels the Best Bagels in Brentwood award every
78 www.110mag.com September/October 2008
THE WILLY’S BAGELS & BLENDS FAMILY
WAS HONORED BY BRENTWOOD’S
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AS THE 2007
BUSINESS OF THE YEAR.
year since they began handing the award out,
and in 2007 Willy’s Bagels received the most
votes of any recipient in any category in the
history of the competition.
STAYING AT THE TOP
Someone once said that if you work in your own
business you don’t have a job; you have a position.
That may be true, but members of the
Richardson family work harder at their “position”
than most people work at their jobs. “This business
doesn’t run by itself,” Ryan said.
Some of their clientele, with finely honed tastes
and educated opinions, patronize Willy’s because
of the quality and the levels of service. Customers
come to Willy’s Bagels and Blends because of their
gourmet bagels and flavors. “Nobody in the industry
sells a bagel like ours,” Ron said. “Our signature
quality and variety distinguishes us from our
competition.”
“A major part of our success has been built
upon persistence,” Ryan said. “We embody
Benjamin Disraeli’s maxim that the secret of
success is constancy of purpose. We show up
every day. We begin baking at 11:00 p.m. and by
our 5:00 a.m. opening time we have filled our
display cases with fresh-baked goodness.”
When the family bought the business, none of
them realized what a time-responsive and schedule-sensitive
challenge Willy’s Bagels would prove
to be. They expected the business to run itself to
some extent, at least, so they could, perhaps, get
Sundays off. But a family-owned-and-operated
retail business like Willy’s is a seven-days-a-week
commitment. At 5:00 a.m. the doors have to be
open whether it’s convenient or not.
“People come to see us as well as to buy our
bagels and food,” Ryan said. “We employ about
22 people and hire a number of local high school
kids. But we two boys, our sister Julie, Ryan’s wife,
Marisa, and our parents all work long hours every
day. The family involvement gives us an edge;
customers expect to see one of us, and they
usually do.”
The personal touch beats the experience typical
with some competitors in which the young
person who waits on you is not the person who
waited on you the last time you came in and who
will not be behind the counter the next time. None
of the servers in some of those other places will
ever learn your name; nor will most of them even
wish to do so.
On the other hand, the Richardsons greet
customers by name, in many cases, and commit