Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Vickers.
Scott, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
This all started in 1979 when my parents, Linda & Danny, opened a small fried chicken restaurant called “The Chicken Place” in a small town, Marlin, just outside of Waco. Awesome name, right? I was just over a year old. I spent the better part of my childhood there and have many, many memories from riding to the bank with Dad every day, waiting on the day my legs would be long enough to touch the floor, and collecting my sucker from Jim the banker. I mowed the grass around the restaurant, helped customers by the time I was seven, and sat with regulars to draw pictures for them on the back of their chicken boxes. I’m the oldest of three. My sister Lauren was born in ’85 and, not long afterwards, my mother opened a cosmetic studio in a corner of a dress shop down the street from the restaurant. Mom and Dad later bought the dress shop too, and they named it “Lauren’s”.
My other sister Allison was born four years later. Marlin was once an up-and-coming town, but in the mid-80’s it lost several of the anchor employers for one reason or another. With a declining population, my father had to figure out some way to make it work. So, in addition to having customers come to the restaurant, he decided he’d also go to the customers. Just like that, TCP Catering was born. It started with small groups for a church, teacher’s luncheon, or other civic group. Times weren’t always easy. Most meals I remember were whatever we had leftover at the restaurant and we seldom, if ever, ate at home together…and that was ok! The catering leg of the business grew, slowly at first, but throughout the mid-90’s, it really began to take off. About the time I left Marlin to attend school at Texas A&M University, TCP Catering was really coming into its own. I was certain that I was headed to college to pursue some career, any career other than running the family business. After college, I moved to Houston following a girlfriend. I was broke, needed a job, and they’re just weren’t a ton of opportunities out there.
So, I took a job waiting tables at a nice steakhouse downtown. There, I learned I could make more money than most of my friends that were sitting in an office somewhere hoping to climb some corporate ladder. So, I stayed. I kept waiting tables in Houston. There, I met my wife, Anna. While dating, my father approached me once again about the idea of expanding the business. At that point, I realized it was time to get serious about my future – I didn’t want to wait tables the rest of my life and I was engaged and wanted to settle into something long-term. Nothing wrong with waiting tables…I just wanted to be the boss. Any good waiter at a nice restaurant will confirm that waiters make more than the managers. Along with my parents’ support, Anna and I opened The Chicken Place here at our current location in June of 2010. We built more kitchen into the restaurant just to see what we may do with catering. It wasn’t long before catering started to steamroll into more than we imagined it every would be. We built another facility to support catering, bought a wedding venue about the same time, a fine-dining steakhouse not long after that, and are currently building another catering facility as well. Lauren and her husband, Joe, operate the venue and steakhouse. Mom still works at Lauren’s every day. I just saw Dad yesterday, and he was still just as hard at it as always.
That connects the dots, but between the dots there are many, many more stories to be told. Things haven’t always been easy. I’ve been fortunate to be able to build my success on a foundation laid by my parents long ago. And I don’t just mean money. More importantly, they taught my sisters and I to work hard, finish what you start, and to think for ourselves. When I started TCP Catering (and The Chicken Place), I wasn’t sure if I’d ever make any money, but I was confident that I’d figure it out. Restaurants and catering operations aren’t for the meek. You can’t be afraid of hard work, that’s for sure.
In light of current COVID19 conditions, I’ll conclude with a quote from my father I think of often. “Anyone can manage a busy business. It takes real work, dedication and skill to manage when things are slow.” We’ll get through this together as a family.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Here are a few that comes to my mind first:
Paying myself $500 every two weeks for the first six months, we were open.
Hell, not paying myself at all a few times. Gotta pay employees first.
Working 80+ hours/week – leaving before the sun is up and coming home late.
Some days I’ll still not see my kids the whole day, but it’s less frequent than ever.
TCP Catering – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Although there are many other legs of our family business, let’s talk about TCP Catering.
We cater north of 1000 events annually out of this location. Some big, some small. We’ve found our niche in the upper end of the middle, with regard to price. With that volume, we still provide every client with our complete attention. We are incredibly efficient, and that helps up to keep our costs in line and offer our clients a ton of value, no matter if their event lands on the low or high end of our range.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Sure, we’re all in business for profit, but there’s more to it than the money. I could make tons of money and not feel successful and vice versa.
For me, the feeling of success is closely related to the feeling of being in control of my outcomes as well as having a strong sense of confidence. I enjoy knowing that, because of my hard work, we are able to live a lifestyle that is comfortable. Through my business design, I’ve positioned myself in such a way that allows time to spend with my wife and kids. Ours, being a family business, provides me the opportunity (and often the need) to talk to my parents every day. That’s something I’ll miss dearly one day when they are gone.
I don’t think that there are any singular milestones that will make me feel like I’ve finally made it. At whatever level I am, I feel like I can always do better.
Contact Info:
- Address: TCP Catering
6717 Rufe Snow Dr.
Watauga, TX 76148 - Website: www.tcpcatering.com
- Phone: 817-889-4827
- Email: scott@tcpcatering.com
- Instagram: @tcpcatering
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/tcpcatering
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