The ‘90s were a good time to be in business, particularly if you were selling sandwiches to UW students.
While the UW football team and the university as a whole had plenty to jump around about, the state and national economies were also hoppin’, and Mike Liautaud was right smack in the middle of that frenzied financial mosh pit.
Of course, while many alumni across the state will fondly remember Liautaud as the proprietor of Madison’s Big Mike’s Super Subs, it’s the Milio’s name that’s really put him on the map. In 2005, when Liautaud sought to trademark “Big Mike’s,” the FTC told him the name was too generic, and so he redubbed the concept “Milio’s,” a phonetic portmanteau of his first and last names. Today, the Milio’s brand has grown to include 46 locations throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska.
But it was in the ‘90s when Big Mike really established the momentum that would carry him through to the present day.
“My early days in Madison, yes; I’ll tell you, it was a wonderful period to do business,” said Liautaud, who will be the featured speaker at the March 13 Icons in Business Speaker Series at the Concourse Hotel in Madison. “Interest rates were fairly low, and the competition wasn’t nearly what it is today. That was really the heyday of our business, and then in 2001, when 9/11 hit, a lot of things changed, and I have not seen it get back to those days, and I don’t think I ever will.”
Of course, Liautaud – whose cousins Jimmy John Liautaud and Kevin Schippers founded Jimmy John’s and Erbert & Gerbert’s, respectively – wasn’t the only businessperson who was reeling following 9/11 and, later, during the Great Recession. But he did find a way to survive – and to identify a silver lining.
“Well, what I learned more than anything [during the 2000s] was fiscal responsibility,” said Liautaud, 52. “Throughout the ‘90s, money was real easy, banks were loaning money left and right, and I actually probably abused the situation to a degree. I was really one of those entitled people that we hear about. They say it’s the generation below us, but really I think we were the ones that abused it the most and got thinking that way, and that was a very wasteful time.”
Liautaud says the recession “sharpened him up” and ultimately positioned him for success during better times.
“What I mean by ‘sharpened me up’ is that I got more focused on reducing costs, and why that happened was … my franchise pipeline dried up due to the banks and their tightness of funding, as well as a conservative approach to doing business. The consumer dried up and kind of went away – the business customer as well as our general walk-in customer. Realizing those things, I became more focused on reducing costs.”
Liautaud identified a three-pronged strategy, which focused on eliminating unprofitable stores, seeking more favorable pricing from vendors and landlords, and in general tightening up the company’s operation.
“Since I was not in a growth stage, and the franchise customers weren’t coming in, I made a decision to go to my operations and improve those,” said Liautaud. “What I mean by that is, we retrained all of our people on customer service and their expectations of how to treat a customer. We went in and talked about fundamentals in the operation and how to improve operations themselves. I also made a strong commitment to reduce my debt on my balance sheet. I made a commitment not to borrow any more money. …
“So I made more of a commitment to reduce my debt, and really when it came to spending money, I scrutinized every penny that we spent. I used to just sign off on about everything, but I made a decision now to scrutinize all the money I spent.”
While it took a major financial crisis to get Liautaud to fully embrace these core business fundamentals, he says he’s now much better for it – and more importantly, he’s managed to thrive in a climate where others failed.
“I do believe that the people who did not focus on those particular elements are probably in more trouble today than a company that paid attention to them,” said Liautaud. “So it’s basically just watching your debt, reducing costs, and improving operations. And the people who did that are coming out [of the recession] strong, and the people who did not will go by the wayside, and I believe that any business can benefit from that advice.”
A light at the end of the tunnel
Now, says Liautaud, Milio’s is poised for even better times ahead. He also sees reason for optimism in the economy as a whole. Indicators within his own operation – including business-to-business growth – show that things may finally be on the upswing. For one thing, Milio’s catering business, which services numerous business clients, has been picking up steam for the last six or seven months.
“I do believe there’s a confidence coming back to the business customer as well as to the regular customer who comes through the door,” said Liautaud. “I’ve also seen an improvement in franchise leads. I’ve seen more leads come in that are more serious and more proactive and more expedient in making their decisions. During the heart of that recession, people were really putting off making the decisions.”
Hooking customers
During his Icons presentation, Liautaud will touch on some of the core elements that differentiate Milio’s from his competition. Among these is the FISH! Philosophy, which originated at the famed Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle. The philosophy encompasses four basic rules: Be present in conversations, make a person’s day, have fun at your job, and choose your attitude.
“I’ll speak more in depth on it at the IB forum, but what it all comes down to is that if you have a person who has the right attitude and looks at the positive part of life, walks around with a smile on their face, is present and engaged in conversation, and has a good time along the way, that is a person that gives energy – zaps people with energy,” said Liautaud. “If you take a person who’s completely the opposite, someone who does not listen, someone who walks around with a frown on their face and a crappy attitude, that’s a person who repels you and you don’t want to be close to.”
According to Liautaud, adopting the positive attitude inherent in the FISH! Philosophy can make all the difference in a business’ performance.
“Many times I’ve gone into competitors’ stores and they’re neglecting you, they’re not listening to you, they don’t care about you – it’s not a place I want to go and do business with,” said Liautaud. “If a person comes in and we go by first names, we know what they’re ordering, we make their day by giving them a simple smile, they’ll come back to us. So it’s really a basic core fundamental of good, quality, solid people bringing an excellent product to the marketplace. That’s something I believe is missing within the retail business.”
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