Page 9 - BusinessWest July 7, 2021

food, one that has helped fuel expan- sion of Bueno Y Sano well beyond its downtown Amherst roots.
Indeed, while a location that opened in Boston not far from Boston University quickly proved a bust — “we didn’t do any business in the evening because BU had awesome food” — the others have generally thrived, although the location in West Springfield in the Riverdale Shops hasn’t generated the traffic that was anticipated.
“We’re not a college-town place,” Lowry explained. “It’s a very broad market that we serve. Mexican food ... if it’s not the biggest sector right now, it’s going to be, and soon. And we’re fresh Mex, quick service, which has grown like a weed ever since the day we started. There are probably 250 fresh-Mex, quick-service places in Mas-
“When they’re the boss, most people have as their first reaction the thought that their job is to catch people doing things wrong and tell them about it.
But with just a small adjustment in philosophy, they could understand that their job is to catch people doing things right and tell everyone about it. And if they did that, they would be much more successful.”
sachusetts right now, where back then, there were probably 10, including us.” The popularity of fresh Mex cer-
tainly helped Bueno Y Sano weather the pandemic, said Lowry, adding
that, in 2020, the company registered roughly 75% of the sales it would dur- ing a normal year by focusing entirely on takeout and benefiting greatly from an online ordering system that was put in place before COVID-19 but not used extensively until the pandemic arrived.
“The Acton and Springfield loca- tions actually did better than they did the year before,” he explained, adding that the company continues to do a great deal of business via the takeout route, with perhaps 80% of sales com- ing that way, while before the pandem- ic, it was probably 50%.
Hot Stuff
Flashing back to the days when he conceived Bueno Y Sano, Lowry said fresh Mex was a solid idea and, as things have turned out, a solid busi-
ness proposition.
But it was also a means to an end —
an opportunity to do what he wanted and not do what, deep down, he knew he couldn’t do — work for someone else.
“The things that go with a job were not motivating to me,” he explained. “I wanted to be the boss. I wanted to make decisions and do the fun stuff if I wanted to.”
Elaborating, and putting to work a phrase one hears often these days, Lowry wanted a business he could work on, not in.
“The vast majority of entrepreneurs get stuck working in the business as
opposed to on it, and that’s a big trick,” he told BusinessWest. “That was part
of my vision from the very, very first thought: I’m going to work on it, and other people can work in it. And it’s going to be fun, and people are going to like working for me because I’m not going to step on my feet by discourag- ing people.”
Expanding on that thought, Bueno Y Sano has become the kind of business he can work on, not in, he said, adding that he’s involved day to day, but there isn’t anything approaching microman- agement. He has put aside time to do other things, like teaching entreptre- neurship, which creates an important
balance — and often more fun.
He said the class, which he’s been
teaching since 2006, has several com- ponents, including a pitch contest, the textbook, and guest entrepreneurs (he’s one of them) who will share experienc- es from their ventures and adventures. Over the years, a number of students, maybe 40 to 50 by his count, have gone on to start their own businesses.
Lowry said the teaching has been
... well, a learning experience for him while standing at the front of the class- room, one that has given him great clarity about what works in all work-
Lowry
Continued on page 42
CHOOSE ALWAYS
FEATURE
JULY 7, 2021 9
BusinessWest