Major League Maui Wowi

The first location I opened as a Maui Wowi franchise owner in 2002 was Yankee Stadium. Talk about starting at the top! It was an insane experience. People who attend Yankee games are a class unto themselves. And so are the people who manage the concessions at the Stadium. It was an amazing learning experience. A few months before opening at Yankee, I was a senior vice president at a big New York publishing company. Then suddenly I'm selling frozen drinks! One day at Yankee, I had a customer who was wearing a Columbia Business School Executive MBA sweatshirt. He ordered his drink and as I was serving it to him (and collecting $8, by the way) I said, "Columbia Executive MBA, huh?" He nodded with a smug smile. Then I added the zinger, pointing to myself, "Me too. Class of 1996!" I am pretty sure I am the only Columbia MBA working concessions at Yankee stadium. The look on his face was priceless.

We're not operating at Yankee right now (a story for another day) but we opened across town at Shea Stadium, making our debut on a cold April 3 opener. It took me a long time to get the contract, but fortunately we have a great new franchisee who stepped in to run it as his first location.