House of Plenty : The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Luby's Cafeterias

The epic story of the rise, fall, and redemption of an iconic American restaurant, one of only five in the Fortune 500. Scarred by the deaths of his mother and sisters and the failure of his father’s business, a young man dreamed of making enough money to retire early and retreat into the secure world that his childhood tragedies had torn from him. But Harry Luby refused to be a robber baron. Turning totally against the tide of avaricious capitalism, he determined to make a fortune by doing good. Starting with that unlikely, even naive, ambition in 1911, Harry Luby founded a cafeteria empire that by the 1980s had revenues second only to McDonald’s. So successfully did Luby and his heirs satisfy the tastes of America that Luby’s became the country’s largest cafeteria chain, creating more millionaires per capita among its employees than any other corporation of its size. Even more surprising, the company stayed true to Harry Luby’s vision for eight decades, making money by treating its customers and employees exceptionally well. Written with the sweep and drama of a novel, House of Plenty tells the engrossing story of Luby’s founding and phenomenal growth, its long run as America's favorite family restaurant during the post-World War II decades, its financial failure during the greed-driven 1990s when non-family leadership jettisoned the company’s proven business model, and its recent struggle back to solvency. Carol Dawson and Carol Johnston draw on insider stories and company records to recapture the forces that propelled the company to its greatest heights, including its unprecedented practices of allowing store managers to keep 40 percent of net profits and issuing stock to all employees, which allowed thousands of Luby’s workers to achieve the American dream of honestly earned prosperity. The authors also plumb the depths of the Luby’s drama, including a hushed-up theft that split the family for decades; the 1991 mass shooting at the Killeen Luby’s, which splattered the company’s good name across headlines nationwide; and the rapacious over-expansion that more than doubled the company’s size in nine years (1987-1996), pushed it into bankruptcy, and drove president and CEO John Edward Curtis Jr. to violent suicide. Disproving F. Scott Fitzgerald’s adage that “there are no second acts in American lives,” House of Plenty tells the epic story of an iconic American institution that has risen, fallen, and found redemption—with no curtain call in sight. “Intrigue, mystery, and strategy—all in a historical profile of Luby’s Cafeterias. This is a book about an institution we all knew as home—never thinking that the foundation was a business plan destined to work for fifty years. What went wrong? Read on! A “must” for business schools everywhere, and a fun read for everyone.”—Jon Brumley, Forbes Entrepreneur of the Year, cofounder and chairman of the Board of Encore Acquisitions Company Winner, Violet Crown Award, Writers League of Texas, 2007 Citation, San Antonio Conservation Society, 2009 Scarred by the deaths of his mother and sisters and the failure of his father's business, a young man dreamed of making enough money to retire early and retreat into the secure world that his childhood tragedies had torn from him. But Harry Luby refused to be a robber baron. Turning totally against the tide of avaricious capitalism, he determined to make a fortune by doing good. Starting with that unlikely, even naive, ambition in 1911, Harry Luby founded a cafeteria empire that by the 1980s had revenues second only to McDonald's. So successfully did Luby and his heirs satisfy the tastes of America that Luby's became the country's largest cafeteria chain, creating more millionaires per capita among its employees than any other corporation of its size. Even more surprising, the company stayed true to Harry Luby's vision for eight decades, making money by treating its customers and employees exceptionally well. Written with the sweep and drama of a novel, House of Plenty tells the engrossing story of Luby's founding and phenomenal growth, its long run as America's favorite family restaurant during the post-World War II decades, its financial failure during the greed-driven 1990s when non-family leadership jettisoned the company's proven business model, and its recent struggle back to solvency. Carol Dawson and Carol Johnston draw on insider stories and company records to recapture the forces that propelled the company to its greatest heights, including its unprecedented practices of allowing store managers to keep 40 percent of net profits and issuing stock to all employees, which allowed thousands of Luby's workers to achieve the American dream of honestly earned prosperity. The authors also plumb the depths of the Luby's drama, including a hushed-up theft that split the family for decades; the 1991 mass shooting at the Killeen Luby's, which splattered the company's good name across headlines nationwide; and the rapacious over-expansion that more than doubled the company's size in nine years (1987-1996), pushed it into bankruptcy, and drove president and CEO John Edward Curtis Jr. to violent suicide. Disproving F. Scott Fitzgerald's adage that "there are no second acts in American lives," House of Plenty tells the epic story of an iconic American institution that has risen, fallen, and found redemptionwith no curtain call in sight. CONTENTS......Page 8 1. BLOOD SACRIFICE IN TEXAS......Page 12 2. PLANTING SEEDS......Page 20 3. GROWING SEASON......Page 44 4. FIRST HARVEST: Portrait of a Budding Magnate......Page 60 5. RECRUITING NEW HANDS FOR THE SECOND CROP: The Band Begins to Gather......Page 68 6. THE $60,000 INCUBATOR......Page 76 7. SALAD DAYS......Page 84 8. THE WORM IN THE APPLE......Page 106 9. CUTTING THE JELL-O......Page 122 10. HADDOCK ALMONDINE AND CHICKEN-FRIED STEAK......Page 130 11. THE WORM GNAWS DEEPER......Page 136 12. SCALLOPED SQUASH AND SPINACH PUDDING......Page 146 13. YEAST ROLLS, BISCUITS, AND TWO KINDS OF CORNBREAD......Page 152 14. CHERRY COBBLER AND COCONUT CREAM PIE......Page 164 15. DEVILED EGGS AND STUFFED JALAPENOS......Page 178 16. HOT COFFEE, ICED TEA, PINK LEMONADE, OR JUST PLAIN WATER......Page 194 17. CONDIMENTS ON THE SIDE......Page 204 18. DIRTY DISHES......Page 218 19. OVER, FORK OVER......Page 232 20. LEFTOVERS......Page 254 EPILOGUE......Page 264 AFTERWORD (Carol Johnston)......Page 266 LUBY FAMILY TREE (partial)......Page 269 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 270 SELECTED SOURCES......Page 272 INDEX......Page 276 Disproving F. Scott Fitzgerald's adage that "there are no second acts in American lives," House of Plenty tells the epic story of an iconic American institution that has risen, fallen, and found redemption- with no curtain call in sight The Rise, Fall, And Revival Of Luby's Cafeteria's. Carol Dawson And Carol Johnston. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 262-263) And Index.