Chester County Leadership: Dave Magrogan, CEO, The Dave Magrogan Group

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Dave Magrogan
Image via SmartCEO.

Dave Magrogan is the CEO of The Dave Magrogan Group, the West Chester-based restaurant and hospitality management company and parent company of the Red Star Craft House in the Exton Square Mall, as well as the nine-location Harvest Seasonal Grill and Wine Bar chain. He spoke with VISTA Today about being born in California, growing up in Delaware County, what he attributes his leadership abilities to, and how he began working in the restaurant industry when he was just 12 years old.

Magrogan discussed becoming a chiropractor and why he made sure that all people could be treated, even if they did not have the insurance to cover it, and why he switched to the restaurant business. He also talked about the challenges of opening and sustaining a new restaurant, as well as the genesis of “Give, Love, Serve” – the motto that guides his work at Harvest.

Where were you born, Dave,  and where did you grow up?

I was born the youngest of three kids in California in 1972, but I grew up in Delaware County. I spent most of my early life moving around the Delaware County area after my parents divorced.

We did not live in the best neighborhoods or homes, sometimes surrounded by poverty, but I always had a loving mother and sisters. I always found myself appreciating the love I had in my home, so that gave me the ability to be confident and independent. This led me to be innovative with my ideas and led me to be a leader.

What tactics did you use to fit in at each new school?

Before settling down in middle school, I went to six different schools. Because we moved so much, I had to learn to make friends quickly and adapt to new surroundings.  When you move around a lot, you always appreciate when people are kind to you and it teaches you how to be kind to others.

Moving around a lot taught me how to interact with and read people and find the good kids in class. I was often the smallest kid, which led to bullies picking on me early on. I was raised to be kind, which my mom and two sisters always taught me.

I always had a passion and desire to lead, to surround myself with good people, which helped me succeed in making friends and standing up to bullies.

When did you first identify your leadership ability?

Some of my approach to leadership comes from my mother and stubborn Irish heritage. Because we moved around a lot, I developed a built-in tolerance for change and failure. That tolerance together with the love my mom and my sisters showed me, gave me a willingness to try something new.

Even today, I’m not afraid to try out a new idea. Sometimes the ideas work, other times they don’t. Some people like that about me, others get stressed out trying to follow me when I have a lot of new ideas. Early on I learned that leadership was finding people with similar goals, passions that enjoyed working together.

Did you play any sports in school?

In 7th grade, we settled in in Brookhaven. In middle school and high school, I enjoyed sports – playing soccer, wrestling, and tennis. I enjoyed tennis the most.

What was your first job?

My very first job was babysitting, but my first official job was working at a restaurant called the Lobster Pot on Baltimore Pike near the Franklin Mint.

I was twelve years old, and I washed dishes without any working papers. I was only 4’ 10” at the time and barely tall enough to reach the dishes. They put some dish racks on the floor, so I could walk on them and gain a few inches. I started with washing dishes, then pots and pans, then prep, and finally cooking.

That’s where I really learned the intensity, long hours and the camaraderie of the restaurant business.

What lessons did you take away from that experience that stay with you today?

No one had any reason to think I’d make it through my first day, but I proved myself through my work ethic. People like to be around other people who work hard. Hard work transcends all races, genders, religions, politics, and socioeconomic background. In that environment, I learned that if I worked hard, I would be respected.

I did not want to wash dishes my whole life, so I wanted to prove my worth. It was a crazy and tough environment – the language, the stress – it was crazy. There was a lot of comedy as well. You learn to laugh at yourself.

I was a poor kid, so I had to work hard for a paycheck. Anyone else who did the same was respected.

Did you go to college?

I went to West Chester University. In high school, I was very involved in different aspects of the school. I was Treasurer of my class all four years. I was on the tennis and wrestling team, but I was also very involved in the drama department and acted in plays.

When I was preparing to go to college, I took a few things into consideration when deciding what path I’d take for my future. My dad was living in Virginia at the time, and but he was often dealing with corporate downsizing. My uncle was a CFO of a company that was going under.  My mom was a nurse, and my sister was a respiratory therapist. I was not a fan of modern medicine, but I thought some type of career in healthcare might be right for me as the business world seemed very volatile.

I started looking at careers with my guidance counselor at my high school, and that’s when I began to investigate being a chiropractor. I started reading about it and visiting different chiropractors, seeing the positive relationships between the doctor and patient were very inspiring.

I applied to West Chester University and went through their pre-med program in the early 1990s. I left West Chester with three years of credit and went to a chiropractic school in Atlanta. I knew four years of chiropractic school was going to be expensive, so West Chester was my affordable option. I worked in restaurants while I went to school there and I took classes during the summers.

Looking back, was West Chester a good option for you?

It was a great choice. It was a good school. I enjoyed pre-med, especially organic chemistry. I almost switched majors because I liked organic chemistry so much. I loved the area, and I continued learning about the restaurant business as I worked to pay for classes.

How did you get from chiropractic school to where you are now? Were there people who helped you along the way?

My family, especially my sister and my aunt, have always been great and encouraged to me.

When I was working at different restaurants in college, I worked with numerous people who were kind to me in different ways.

When I was in chiropractic school, I went to a seminar to hear a Chiropractor named Joe Donofrio speak about his family practice in New Jersey. I loved Joe’s style, energy, and honesty. He ran his practice very simply, in a black-and-white kind of way. He inspired me to build a practice the same way he did.

I opened my first practice in Brookhaven in Delaware County. Having grown up poor, I wanted to make sure that people could be treated, even if they did not have the insurance to cover it. I had a sign above the front desk that read, “we accept all patients regardless of ability to pay.” We accepted some insurance, but also had hundreds of patients without insurance.

We quickly went from 100 patients a week to 300 hundred to 800. We were busy! I preferred to see the volume, rather than making the patients pay more. I opened another office following this success. I loved it, and I thought I would continue doing chiropractic work for the rest of my life.

After a while, however, I started to watch the clock and wasn’t as happy as when I opened my first practice. I began to think about other options. My Aunt Mary Anne was very helpful during this career transition. She was a successful executive with Scott Paper and Kimberly Clark and knew a great deal about starting and growing small businesses. She was a tremendous resource and advisor during the early Kildare’s years.

I had always loved restaurants, and I had Irish heritage, so I wanted to open an authentic Irish pub in the suburbs. I hoped to open one pub and still work in my practice. Kildare’s West Chester opened in 2003. I was spending more time in the restaurant than I was my practice, so I sold the chiropractic offices in 2004.

Do you have any regrets about leaving your Chiropractic practice?

The only thing I regret is that I would like to practice one day a week. I run into patients from my practice, young kids that are now in their twenties and others who I treated.

I enjoy the freedom of being an entrepreneur. The difference being in the restaurant business is that people don’t come in looking to see me or rely on my services, and I don’t get paid three months later by the insurance companies now.

Another part of my job was constantly talking to patients about maintaining their health care, and how wellness is unfortunately not free.

Who else helped you along the way?

A mentor who has been great to me in the restaurant business is Bernie Spain. Bernie had a chain of Dollar Stores that he sold off about 15 years ago for a significant amount. He has invested money into a few different ventures, my restaurants being one of them. Bernie is 84 years old, and throughout his life, he treated everyone with dignity and respect. He built a company from the ground up, so I always come to him when I need advice about my business.

When we had union issues, I went to Bernie. When I had a landlord issue, he helped me through the negotiations. He’s an example of an entrepreneur giving back and being involved beyond his business. For someone who has achieved the success he has, he’s tolerant, kind and humble.

He’s been with me for twelve years in various restaurants, and he has always been a good sounding board to facilitate my growth. I try to do the same thing for others as Bernie has done for me.

What challenges and opportunities are you currently focused on?

The challenges haven’t changed since I started in the restaurant business. We started with Kildare’s, and then we opened Doc Magrogans. We opened Mas in West Chester. We opened Red Star. I’ve opened seven different concept restaurants over the years. Now we have shrunk the company down to focus solely on Harvest Seasonal Grill and Wine Bar. Harvest has grown tremendously in the past few years, it serves the health of our guests, our environment and benefits small local farms.  It is a restaurant company I feel good about and it connects me back to my health career in Chiropractic.  We also have created a small healthy restaurant in Florida called Local Greens that may blossom in the coming years.

In the restaurant business, there are always two challenges: people and capital. Those will always be the issues. You need good, passionate people who believe in the core values of your business. This is an industry that looks past color, gender, status, and helps individuals grow tremendously. You can start as a dishwasher and be the General Manager someday. We are always looking for that talent. It’s important to find people who share your vision and have a positive attitude.

With the economy as it is right now, it’s harder to recruit and hire. There’s a shortage of quality people in the restaurant business, and that will always be a struggle.

The other issue is capital. It’s very expensive to open a restaurant. It can cost upward of two to three million dollars. It’s also essential to deliver on your promises when opening a restaurant, you need to open ready to execute. With Harvest, we found a great equity partner – Jeff Larsen and Larsen MacColl Partners from Wayne – and they’ve done a great job funding Harvest expansion, helping guide our growth and allowing me to focus on building a great brand. They are dedicated partners every step of the way with Harvest.

Where would you like Harvest to be in 18 months, 5 years, 10 years?

We are coming off our strongest summer ever at Harvest, which is very encouraging. Our newest location Harvest Lancaster just opened on November 5th, it is our ninth Harvest location.  I’d like to find two high-quality locations in the next eighteen months while spending a great deal of time perfecting our current operations and developing our future leaders. We need the right location and demographics to fit our brand. I think after the next eighteen months, Harvest will be in a good position to grow at a more aggressive pace expanding into Maryland, Virginia while adding more stores in New Jersey and Florida. We source our products for the restaurant from local farmers and serve educated food consumers, so we will spend a great deal of time finding the right locations.

I’m a big believer that every failure you have, you learn from. I’ve had some real winners and some losers. I always learn from the losses and try not to make those mistakes again. We always throw things against the wall to see what will stick in our operations and see what our guests think.

With Harvest, we were able to develop a brand with a very specific mission that fits a growing demographic. We have been very careful with the growth of Harvest to be able to execute on our brand vision and develop our talent. The first Harvest opened eight years ago and the second one did not open for three years after that. We had a lot of incubation time with that concept after seeing Kildares grow too quickly.

Finally, Dave, what is the best piece of advice you ever received?

My mom was very much about kindness and love. She did a lot for other people and taught me that what you put out in the Universe, you get back.

The motto that we use at Harvest is “give, love, serve” and that motto combines what my mother and my mentors taught me. You give, you love, you serve in everything you do, and it all comes back to you. If you genuinely love what you do and provide valuable service to others, you’ll get it back.

Outside of Harvest I spend most of my time with my son Grady and my girlfriend Melissa. If we are not in the Chester Springs area, we are most likely in Sea Isle City or Delray Beach Florida but Chester County will always be home.

A few ways I try to give back to Chester County is to serve of the board of The Mill at Anselma, an historic intact water powered grain mill in Chester Springs.  It is a wonderful piece of history lead by a great group of dedicated people.  I also serve on the board of the Brandywine Valley SPCA in West Chester and Delaware.  It is a phenomenal organization with great leadership that is saving the lives of thousands of animals every month. It is an organization that lives the “give, love, serve” mentality and is making a big difference in our communities and the lives of animals.

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