Food For Thought How persistence and passion turned a new idea into a multimillion-dollar business

In this excerpt, Paul Wenner, founder of Wholesome and HeartyFoods, recalls his accidental invention of the vegetarianGardenburger and his struggle to turn the idea into a business.

It was 1981, and at last, I was going to realize my dream--theopening of a gourmet vegetarian restaurant. The GardenhouseRestaurant [in Gresham, Oregon,] opened to good reviews. Like allrestaurateurs, I was soon faced with [the problem of] what to dowith the leftovers. My solution was something I called the"Gardenloaf Sandwich," made of leftover vegetables andrice pilaf. Later, I got the idea of slicing up the loaf into whatlooked like patties--and suddenly the Gardenburger was born.

Grilled and placed in a hamburger bun, it was an instantsuccess. [Soon,] one out of every two lunches sold was aGardenburger. Cholesterol consciousness was just beginning to buildin the early 1980s, and I'd truly found the "food for thetimes."

I was thrilled that a product I loved was so popular, but Istill hadn't conceived of it as a product that might build aminiempire. In the summer of 1982, however, I began to get aninkling that there might be life for the Gardenburger outside mylittle restaurant. At the annual Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, I set up asmall stand and sold 800 Gardenburgers in two days--mostly topeople who'd never even heard of a meatless burger. The nextyear, I sold twice as many.

Another restaurant with a food booth at the festival was soimpressed by my sales that its owners asked me if they could sellthe Gardenburger at their deli. I consented, and they sold morethan I did. I thought, "Wow, if I could get 100 restaurants tosell Gardenburgers, I could live off something I really believein."

But another reality soon asserted itself. In 1984, the Oregonrecession was verging on a depression, and it was a struggle tokeep the restaurant afloat. The restaurant closed in November 1984.I thought it was the end of the world.

In fact, it was the best thing that could have happened. If therestaurant had succeeded, I'd probably still be there today,and Wholesome and Hearty Foods and the tremendous success of theGardenburger might never have come to be. But at the time, I wasfeeling pretty bleak.

Old customers called me to commiserate, and almost all of themtold me how much they were going to miss my Gardenburgers. Severalasked me if there weren't some way they could still get them.One of my best customers, a salesman named Allyn Smaaland, had saidon more than one occasion that he would love to help me sellGardenburgers. [He and I] began plotting ways to salvage theGardenburger.

Neither Allyn nor I had any money, just a lot of imagination andenergy. We put out feelers everywhere, and one day, my sisterLinda, who was a top salesperson for the Louisiana-Pacific (L-P),then a
$2 billion-plus company in the building industry, said, "Youought to talk to Harry Merlo." Harry was [L-P's] CEO and alegendary figure in the Pacific Northwest. "I'mserious," my sister said. "Harry's really into thishealth thing."

I arrived early the next day for my appointment with Harry, inhis suite high atop Portland's tallest skyscraper. I stayedfocused and gave [Harry's personal chef] Buzz some quick tipson how to cook a Gardenburger. I knew this would be the mostimportant Gardenburger ever grilled.

Harry invited me to talk about myself, and I did. Then,abruptly, he asked me why I thought Gardenburgers wouldsucceed.

I said they'd succeed because they fill a growing hungerpeople have--to be healthier. I could see Harry really perk up.

"I like how you think," Harry said. "Let's gointo the kitchen and try one of those burgers."

[Harry tried the Gardenburger, loved it, and offered to financeWenner's start-up, giving him $60,000 for the first year.]

[Then] Harry froze me with a piercing look and asked, "Whenwill this business make money?"

I knew Harry expected me to have thought all this out verycarefully. I gulped and said, "Harry, this business will makemoney in the 13th month and from then on will be profitable."My answer was based on nothing more than the notion that I'dwork my tail off for a year and if we weren't flying by then,we weren't going to get off the ground.

Things didn't go well in the beginning. Allyn would goaround to 15 or 20 restaurants some days and come back with fewaccounts. I found the situation extremely frustrating. I knewpeople wanted Gardenburgers, and I knew I could sell them. So Isuggested to Allyn we switch places for awhile.

And, sure enough, I started getting accounts--not in great wavesat first, but steadily. I had my chef background going for me; Icould go into restaurants and show people how to make Gardenburgersso appealing that [customers] couldn't resist them.

Generally, if I could get the product into somebody's mouth,the Gardenburger completed the sales job. The trick, though, was toget through the front door before getting thrown out. For everyrestaurant manager who would say yes, another nine would say no. Alot of people asked me how I could stand all that rejection. But Ialways looked at each no as a positive. I knew it was a numbersgame. Each no simply brought me to the inevitable yes.

That, I believe, is a key trait of every successfulsalesperson--always seeing a positive in a negative. I put thisattitude into practice whenever I'd enter a restaurant [only]to be told "We don't get any vegetarians in here." Myresponse was "Maybe that's because there's nothingvegetarian on your menu."

[Sometimes I left] free product. This approach paid off. Everytime I'd come back after leaving a free case of Gardenburgers,I'd have a new account. By the end of 1985, I had 75 or 80restaurants signed up. But despite our progress, time was runningout on us, as was our money. We still hadn't turned a nickel ofprofit.

The big national Natural Food Expo Show was coming up in LosAngeles in March 1986, and I knew we had to get our product intothat show so health-food retailers from all around the countrycould learn about us and actually sample Gardenburgers. The fee was$1,200--close to what we had left [of Harry's] seed money. Idecided to spend it.

Fortified with some new packaging for the product, I headed downto Los Angeles. I knew there was a cafeteria at the expo center. Ihad thought every exhibitor would be battling to get their productsinto the cafeteria and was astounded to discover not a single onehad approached the management.

Retailers started noticing how many people were buyingGardenburgers at the cafeteria and sought me out on the floor.Orders started to pour in. Suddenly, the Gardenburger was the talkof the show.

I went back to Portland feeling vindicated.

And so it was that we arrived at the 13th month and, right onschedule, our first profit--$300! Harry got wind of our littletriumph and phoned me.

"You said you'd make money in the 13th month,Wenner," Harry boomed, "and, by God, I understandwe've got 300 bucks profit in the bank.Congratulations!"

Today, over 200 million Gardenburgers have been sold, andWholesome and Hearty Foods' line of meatless and low-fat foodsis available in more than 30,000 food-service outlets, 10,000grocery stores and 4,000 natural-food stores worldwide.