Thomas Michael Liner is the Owner of Pioneer Family Restaurant in Archdale, NC.
Tell me a little about your restaurant and how you got started.
Opening a restaurant was a dream come true for me. When I was little my family owned a restaurant and I knew one day I wanted to open one. They owned a Freezette and I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. In August of 1987, my partner and I opened the Pioneer Family Restaurant. A few years later I bought my partner out. Then in 1997, I sold the restaurant. In 2003, the restaurant burned down and about a year later it was rebuilt in the same location. On July 24, 2009, I was approached to buy the restaurant back. I originally had no intentions of buying it back. But after thinking about a couple days I bought the restaurant back in August 2009.
So you didn’t originally want to buy it back? Why not?
I didn’t want to work 90 hours a week and just didn’t want to get back in the restaurant business. But the man I sold it to approached me again, so I asked him “Why do you want sell it back to me?” He said, “You told me, ‘Before I ever closed the restaurant to come and see you,’ so here I am. I’m done.” So I thought about it for a couple days and decided I would buy it back because I didn’t want to see it close. We bought the restaurant back in August 2009. We’ve some improvements and sales are up since we bought it back. But, unfortunately, my partner got sick so I had to buy him out.
How were you able to obtain the funds needed to start the Pioneer Family Restaurant?
I had a friend who was pretty wealthy and one day I invited him over to my house and told him my idea for a restaurant and my plan and ten minutes later, he said “Okay.” I invested $10,000 of my money and he invested $10,000 of his money and the restaurant borrowed $100,000 from him. We later paid back the loans with interest.
What were some challenges you faced in the beginning?
When we first started this was a very small town and Main Street was only a two lane road. A few months later the city came by and expanded the road to 5 lanes. That was rough. It almost put us out of business. But it was probably the best thing that happened to us. With the road construction going on, you could hardly get in the parking lot. So we started a $1.99 lunch buffet, which I lost about $1 on every sale, but it got people in the door. As people started to come in we started to build a relationship with our customers. We focused on providing outstanding customer service and great quality food. It almost put us out of business but, when the road construction was finally done, it paid off.
What has changed now that you are on your second round of ownership?
We have made some changes in the layout of the restaurant. We have added a new salad bar, which has improved wait times. We have changed some of our buffet items and we now offer only USDA Certified Angus beef. We have been able to increase our quality while lowering prices. We have increased our staff by about 25% and we have focused more on customer service. My focus is to make sure everyone who walks through our door has the best experience here.
We took a different approach then the previous owner. The changes we have made have paid off. Our sales are up 40% over last year. We average about 2,000 more customers a week than a year ago. People can go anywhere to eat. There are now several chain restaurants close by. But, people choose to come here and that makes it worthwhile.
What advice do you have for an entrepreneur starting out?
Do something you love and don’t do it for the money. If you are just doing it for the money and you don’t want to work, you will get bored and you will hate it. You got to love what you do. If it doesn’t excite you, you should do it.
