ome
8 year old boys might feel merely a sense of good luck and happiness
from their elders, after having successfully prepared a full
and tasty spaghetti dinner for a finicky family. But the
kind words and impressed faces in a farmhouse kitchen 22 years
ago made young Bruce Brown feel more than just that. In
1978, he prepared what he still refers to this day as "the best
tomato sauce [he's] ever tasted." He felt the admiration
of his parents and their friends, but he also felt a sense of
possibility. His entrepreneurial spirit had been born.
aving
grown up in rural Upstate New York, many things in Bruce's life
were seasonal. This included his father's farm, New York's
largest hog farm at the time. It also included his mother's
ice cream store, Brown's Kountry Kustard, where Bruce
really got his start.
ruce's
mother, Patricia Brown, was a school teacher who sought a summertime
activity that would both supplement her family's income and
give her two sons a way to stay out of trouble. She founded
Brown's Kountry Kustard when Bruce was 9. Even
though the opportunity to work was offered to both Bruce and
his older brother, it quickly became obvious that Cal would
be the son to carry on the farm duties rather than explore the
world of soft serve and shakes. This left Bruce to be
his mother's only true protégé. Bruce wasted
no time in seizing the chance to become a business man.
nitially,
Bruce earned fifty cents an hour to perform regular tasks in
the store. These tasks rarely included serving customers.
It would be a few years before he was tall enough to see over
the counter. This "problem" kept Bruce in the back of
the store where he decided to take charge of lemonade production.
With his mother's encouragement, Bruce oversaw the entire lemonade
operation -- from squeezing the lemons to buying the cups to
counting the lemonade revenues to ultimately compensating himself
from these profits.
s
Bruce grew in height and in experience, he took on additional
responsibilities at Brown's Kountry Kustard. Each
summer brought another season of challenges and prosperity.
Bruce learned all aspects of maintaining inventories, purchasing,
food preparation, and customer service. Part of his success
at the time could be attributed to his mentor - his mother.
As Bruce took on more responsibilities, his mother was always
there to step in and provide expertise if the young teenager
ever required such. Sadly, this working relationship was
cut all too short when Bruce lost his mother to cancer in 1985.
ith
a heavy heart, Bruce continued to operate Brown's Kountry
Kustard without his mother until he moved away to Philadelphia
in 1988 to attend Temple University. While at Temple,
Bruce operated fourteen different food concession businesses
along the popular Penn's Landing area in downtown Philadelphia.
His other college work experience included overseeing all aspects
of a company called the Reading Terminal Box Lunch.
It was at Reading where Bruce gained an appreciation
for a completely different aspect of the food industry -- fresh
food delivered expeditiously to a higher end clientele.
ruce
graduated Temple with a Bachelor of Science degree in International
Business Finance. He returned to New York in 1994 to run
Brown's Kountry Kustard for one more season -- it's last
season. Soon thereafter, Bruce began a business called
Bruce Brown's Professional Catering. His specialties
included chicken and ribs and other smoke grilled offerings.
n
1997 Bruce received and accepted an attractive offer to sell
Bruce Brown Professional Catering to an acquaintance
in New York. With the net proceeds from the sale Bruce
relocated to North Phoenix in 1998 where he began a new venture
called Big Smoke Catering. The rapid success of
Big Smoke Catering in North Phoenix, North Scottsdale,
and Fountain Hills led to the opening of Big Smoke Grill,
which Bruce operated on weekend evenings as a white tablecloth
restaurant in Fountain Hills. The restaurant garnered
local acclaim in 1999.
hile
juggling both Big Smoke Catering and Big Smoke Grill,
it became evident that a more focussed business plan was needed.
To some degree of risk, in late 1999 Bruce closed Big Smoke
Grill in Fountain Hills and sold his share of Big Smoke
Catering to a limited partner.
ith
the help of friends and clients and with the advice of industry
consultants, Bruce founded Bruce Brown & Company Catering
and Events (BB&CO) on January 1, 2000. By putting
his own name or "signature" on his work, Bruce is establishing
a brand that is uniquely his. The superb food and first-class
service delivered by BB&CO undoubted make Bruce
Brown a name synonymous with quality and premier in-home
dining in the Valley of the Sun.
