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Cajun Business Owner Uses
Every Resource Available To Ensure His Success
Danny Delcambre could sell used cars with his radiant smile.
But the Cajun restaurant owner and chef has too much business
savvy to rely on physical impressions to sell his product.
He depends instead on his professional training as a chef, his
determination to succeed, and the thousands of hours he has
spent learning about how to run a small business through the
Small Business Administration, library research and gathering
information from others who have succeeded.
Most new restaurants in Seattle fail within the first two years
of business. Delcambre is well aware of that fact, but he contends
that his hard work before opening Delcambre’s Ragin’
Cajun in April 1993 will keep his restaurant near the Pike Place
Market out of the statistics.
His would be a good business success story even if we forgot
to mention that Delcambre is deaf and legally blind. It would
be possible to write this story without mentioning those two
facts because Delcambre’s success seems to be more about
an enthusiastic, hardworking new business owner than about someone
overcoming a disability.
Delcambre says his restaurant has been busy almost since its
opening day because the food is good, Cajun cooking is popular,
he has a friendly, well-trained staff, and perhaps most importantly,
the restaurant is in a great location.
“I was really fortunate to find this location,” Delcambre
said through his wife and interpreter, Holly Delcambre. “One
of the things I learned about buying a restaurant was the No.
1 thing is location.”
It would be inaccurate to call Delcambre an overnight success.
“It took me about three years to really prepare for the
restaurant,” he said.
The Louisiana native started in the culinary arts program at
Seattle Central Community College three years ago, where he
studied cooking and all aspects of restaurant operation. He
also interned for New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme, who during
a recent book tour visit to Seattle talked proudly about his
former apprentice. “I don’t have any children, but
visiting some of their restaurants makes me feel like a parent,”
he told The Seattle Times.
Through a co-operative education program at SCCC, Delcambre
gathered information by interviewing suppliers, restaurant owners
and others in the food business. That’s when he found out
about the Small Business Administration and the Service Corps
of Retired Executives.
“Many businesses take advantage of one or two of SBA’s
programs, but Danny Delcambre made his business work by taking
advantage of just about every program SBA offers,” said
Robert Meredith, SBA Seattle District Director.
Delcambre used SBA counseling, training, seminars and workshops
and worked closely with a SCORE volunteer, Jerry Schauermann,
a retired business executive and restaurateur.
“He was the first person who really believed in me,”
Delcambre said. “When I came back (from my internship with
Prudhomme), Jerry wanted me to prove I could cook.”
Schauermann said he would personally fund a banquet, invite
the guests and follow-up with a critique if Delcambre would
prepare the meal himself from start to finish.
“I think that was the scariest thing of my whole experience,
because I really wanted to do a good job and I made a few mistakes,
like the bread didn’t come out just right and the rice
didn’t cook enough. But fortunately everything tasted good
and I presented it well so Jerry was impressed,” Delcambre
said.
That was the beginning of their mentorship, which ranged from
teaching Delcambre about coffee to helping him write a business
plan. Schauermann recruited other SCORE volunteers to help him
get a business loan, train the staff and redesign the kitchen
to meet the chef’s needs.
“I think he (Schauermann) liked my attitude too because
I kept coming back,” Delcambre said.
The restaurateur says determination and “really good self
esteem for someone with my disabilities” helped him accomplish
his lifetime goal of running his own restaurant.
“When I first went to the SBA I had a little difficulty
because I need to have an interpreter. So I had to go through
all of these steps to get an interpreter and it took a long
time to get an answer,” Delcambre said. He also finds it
difficult to gather information in large groups such as workshops,
so he appreciated the fact that the SBA was willing to work
with him one-on-one.
Self esteem helped keep him going.
“You can’t imagine how many people didn’t think
I could do this, who thought I couldn’t go into cooking
... when I told them I wanted to have my own restaurant they
thought there was no way I’d ever be able to do that,”
Delcambre said. “But there were people who did believe
me and who did support me and those were the people I depended
on and they really helped my self esteem and kept me going.”
Another person who took Delcambre under her wing was Lauren
Caldwell, a state counselor with the Department of Rehabilitation.
“When people had doubts about me at the school, she got
involved and advocated for me,” he said. “And now
she’s very proud of me so I feel really good.”
He has used some of his success at “working the system”
as material for speeches he gives to business groups to encourage
them to hire people with disabilities. Delcambre also relishes
his position as a role model and inspiration for young people
with disabilities who may go into business themselves some day.
Recently, a 10-year-old Edmonds girl, who is deaf, visited the
restaurant and asked the owner for a job. He told her to come
back in about seven years and ask again.
Delcambre advises other entrepreneurs to get experience, advice
and information before plunging into business. “You can
get a lot of help, free help, from the Small Business Administration
and other places around town.” |
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