Kipp’s Home Cookin’ wins 2008 Dane County Small Business Award
Staying Alive
Staying Alive
are gone, we have been fortunate to have companies like Tri-North and Isthmus Engineering that have gotten large orders from us in the past, call us around
that time. Companies that are outside of the Madison area are who we have to go with. We can’t just be a door-bell ringing restaurant, but a catering
restaurant as well to get our product out any way that we can. So when the students are gone, our business dips. But it picks back up if we get a huge order on
a Wednesday when it normally is a slow day. Saturdays seem to be a good day where people who can’t come during weekdays come in. And we find more
couples and families coming in then. You just have to keep on pushing it on how you get people to come in the door.”
Owning and running a small business is almost like taking care of a baby. It needs constant attention and is often times exposed to many dangers. “Be
ready to work hard,” Miller said about owning your own business. “Work hard and sacrifice. There is satisfaction in owning your own place. My advice is work
hard and be dedicated and be ready to make some sacrifices. I’ve told numerous people that this is the hardest thing I’ve done in my life other than raising
my kids. But career wise, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. And I’ve worked for some big corporations and made some decent money.”
So what are some of the positives to owning your own business? Well one is the feeling of satisfaction. “I always feel fortunate and I am proud of what we
have because it can always be taken away from us, especially right now in our economy and how things are going,” Thomas said. “But when I go and unlock
that door, there is a pride factor that comes over me. So always feel fortunate that you have your own business if you can get to that point in life because it is
a very powerful moment where you don’t have to look over your shoulder all the time. If you look over your shoulder, you’re looking at yourself. Always
remember that. Be very proud.”
For Miller, one reason he got into the restaurant business was so that he could create a work environment for others that is positive — and which probably
makes them a comfortable place to come and eat. “Every now and then, I’ll get someone who will say ‘I worked at so and so and they did …’ I tell them that I
don’t want to be them,” Miller said. “I want to treat people right. I want ex-employees, people who graduate, to come back when they come to homecoming
and give us a big hug and tell us how great it was working for us and how much they enjoyed the whole experience. That’s what makes me feel good about it.
It’s just how you treat people. You have to treat people like they mean something.”
One of the most important employees whom they have is Kym Miller, Mike’s sister. When Thomas and Miller aren’t there — and sometimes when they are
— Kym is in charge. For many customers, she is the face of Kipp’s Down Home Cookin.’ “I think we’ve been blessed,” Miller emphasized. “Kym has helped us
out. She does a lot of the things we don’t want to do. She’s a hard worker. She frees us up to do the things we need to do. Even though she isn’t an owner, she’
s an owner. When you have employees who feel like the owners, 90 percent of the time, that is good. Kym has been our owner when we haven’t been around.
She keeps employees in line when we aren’t here. Some people recognize her more than they do us. Sometimes I work up front and customers go ‘Where’s
Kym?’”
“When I’m out in public, people tell me ‘I love your food, but I really come there because I like the visitation with the young lady up in front,’” Thomas added.
“That is a reflection on the whole thing we are doing here. Down home cooking is about family and being welcomed into the restaurant.”
While working for yourself technically may mean that you have control over your own time, in actuality, it means that your time is continuously filled with tasks
to be performed or issues to contemplate. “A lot of things change including the notion that when you work for yourself, you can take off anytime you want,”
Thomas observed. “You grow up from that to the real world, which is a very good world. I always say that in life, it is so easy to just get along and do things the
right way. But things are put in your way a lot of times, things that you never expected. You have to learn how to get over these things that are in your way or
get around them. You still can have that feeling ‘Yeah, I can take off.’ But I prefer not to take off because there is something that I didn’t finish accomplishing
that day. That is getting more customers to come in and try our food and stuff like that. It would be easy to just be selfish, but I prefer not to be because I think
it is in me not to be. That’s the way it should be if you have your own business because there are a lot of things that can take your business away. There is
always something to be done. Even on our days off — we take Sunday off because we’re a bunch of football heads around here and it’s family day — we hear
people say ‘I wish you were open on Sundays.’ I say ‘I have a system where you can come and get your food on Saturdays and you won’t know the difference
from Saturday to when you warm it up on Sunday.”
If it’s making your own decisions that might cause you to start your own business, technically that is correct. But it doesn’t mean that you make the
decisions in a vacuum. Often times your best advisors are your customers.
“When we come out with something new, believe it or not, our customers create the new items,” Thomas said. “I’m fortunate that I know what they want
and I will put it together. But when a customer says they want this and that, next thing you know, they say ‘Wow, you did that.’ Our jambalaya and meatloaf are
on our menu by accident. But I said ‘Let’s give it that North American Rotisserie kick-twist to it.’ You have to be different from the norm of what people do. We
listen to our customers very well.”
And while Thomas is proud to be a co-owner of Kipp’s, he doesn’t let that pride get in the way of hearing some good advice. “Wherever we go and
someone happens to know us or know of us, they pick our brains and I like that,” Thomas said. “And I pick the brains of different business owners in town. You
can learn from a lot of different people and they don’t have to be in the restaurant business. They can be in accounting or something like that. But you learn
something and I like it when people want to share their knowledge with you because believe it or not, you can always implement that here in a small business
as a restaurant.”
And in spite of the long days, the constant demands and worries — it seemed on a yearly basis, the partners had to decide whether or not to stay open —
and the uncertainty, in the end, for most small business owners, the bottom line is there is great satisfaction in working for yourself. “Being self-employed is a
lot of fun,” Thomas emphasized. “Being self-employed has its perks. I like to look at our perks and our upside more. I will also take on the challenges of the
downside. It’s still all about not having to look over your shoulder of not coming up short for someone who is the boss or not looking for that compliment
because the boss isn’t paying attention and you just did a great job. Me personally, I don’t know what else to do in life. I mean I do, but I prefer to do this. I
know I have to be consistent with our product because I know what the people like. And in the restaurant business, what I know, is that every day is like last
week’s day. Monday is like Monday and so on. You prepare for it. What I find fortunate is that I know I have people who believe in what I do. I look at it as just
having fun in the kitchen. I know a lot of people have sacrificed to put this right where we are today. None of the stuff is ever forgotten or abused. I’m always
appreciative.”
So the co-owners of Kipp’s will take it one day at a time while still working toward their big dreams. Who knows, maybe some franchising will be in their
future? It’s a hectic, uncertain life. But it is a life that they know they are living and each day’s challenges and successes make them feel alive. Their business
may be on the edge sometimes, but it is their business and for the most part, they control its destiny. And serving up great food and bringing smiles to
customers and employees alike isn’t such a bad way to go through life. Thomas can’t think of anything that is finer.
that time. Companies that are outside of the Madison area are who we have to go with. We can’t just be a door-bell ringing restaurant, but a catering
restaurant as well to get our product out any way that we can. So when the students are gone, our business dips. But it picks back up if we get a huge order on
a Wednesday when it normally is a slow day. Saturdays seem to be a good day where people who can’t come during weekdays come in. And we find more
couples and families coming in then. You just have to keep on pushing it on how you get people to come in the door.”
Owning and running a small business is almost like taking care of a baby. It needs constant attention and is often times exposed to many dangers. “Be
ready to work hard,” Miller said about owning your own business. “Work hard and sacrifice. There is satisfaction in owning your own place. My advice is work
hard and be dedicated and be ready to make some sacrifices. I’ve told numerous people that this is the hardest thing I’ve done in my life other than raising
my kids. But career wise, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. And I’ve worked for some big corporations and made some decent money.”
So what are some of the positives to owning your own business? Well one is the feeling of satisfaction. “I always feel fortunate and I am proud of what we
have because it can always be taken away from us, especially right now in our economy and how things are going,” Thomas said. “But when I go and unlock
that door, there is a pride factor that comes over me. So always feel fortunate that you have your own business if you can get to that point in life because it is
a very powerful moment where you don’t have to look over your shoulder all the time. If you look over your shoulder, you’re looking at yourself. Always
remember that. Be very proud.”
For Miller, one reason he got into the restaurant business was so that he could create a work environment for others that is positive — and which probably
makes them a comfortable place to come and eat. “Every now and then, I’ll get someone who will say ‘I worked at so and so and they did …’ I tell them that I
don’t want to be them,” Miller said. “I want to treat people right. I want ex-employees, people who graduate, to come back when they come to homecoming
and give us a big hug and tell us how great it was working for us and how much they enjoyed the whole experience. That’s what makes me feel good about it.
It’s just how you treat people. You have to treat people like they mean something.”
One of the most important employees whom they have is Kym Miller, Mike’s sister. When Thomas and Miller aren’t there — and sometimes when they are
— Kym is in charge. For many customers, she is the face of Kipp’s Down Home Cookin.’ “I think we’ve been blessed,” Miller emphasized. “Kym has helped us
out. She does a lot of the things we don’t want to do. She’s a hard worker. She frees us up to do the things we need to do. Even though she isn’t an owner, she’
s an owner. When you have employees who feel like the owners, 90 percent of the time, that is good. Kym has been our owner when we haven’t been around.
She keeps employees in line when we aren’t here. Some people recognize her more than they do us. Sometimes I work up front and customers go ‘Where’s
Kym?’”
“When I’m out in public, people tell me ‘I love your food, but I really come there because I like the visitation with the young lady up in front,’” Thomas added.
“That is a reflection on the whole thing we are doing here. Down home cooking is about family and being welcomed into the restaurant.”
While working for yourself technically may mean that you have control over your own time, in actuality, it means that your time is continuously filled with tasks
to be performed or issues to contemplate. “A lot of things change including the notion that when you work for yourself, you can take off anytime you want,”
Thomas observed. “You grow up from that to the real world, which is a very good world. I always say that in life, it is so easy to just get along and do things the
right way. But things are put in your way a lot of times, things that you never expected. You have to learn how to get over these things that are in your way or
get around them. You still can have that feeling ‘Yeah, I can take off.’ But I prefer not to take off because there is something that I didn’t finish accomplishing
that day. That is getting more customers to come in and try our food and stuff like that. It would be easy to just be selfish, but I prefer not to be because I think
it is in me not to be. That’s the way it should be if you have your own business because there are a lot of things that can take your business away. There is
always something to be done. Even on our days off — we take Sunday off because we’re a bunch of football heads around here and it’s family day — we hear
people say ‘I wish you were open on Sundays.’ I say ‘I have a system where you can come and get your food on Saturdays and you won’t know the difference
from Saturday to when you warm it up on Sunday.”
If it’s making your own decisions that might cause you to start your own business, technically that is correct. But it doesn’t mean that you make the
decisions in a vacuum. Often times your best advisors are your customers.
“When we come out with something new, believe it or not, our customers create the new items,” Thomas said. “I’m fortunate that I know what they want
and I will put it together. But when a customer says they want this and that, next thing you know, they say ‘Wow, you did that.’ Our jambalaya and meatloaf are
on our menu by accident. But I said ‘Let’s give it that North American Rotisserie kick-twist to it.’ You have to be different from the norm of what people do. We
listen to our customers very well.”
And while Thomas is proud to be a co-owner of Kipp’s, he doesn’t let that pride get in the way of hearing some good advice. “Wherever we go and
someone happens to know us or know of us, they pick our brains and I like that,” Thomas said. “And I pick the brains of different business owners in town. You
can learn from a lot of different people and they don’t have to be in the restaurant business. They can be in accounting or something like that. But you learn
something and I like it when people want to share their knowledge with you because believe it or not, you can always implement that here in a small business
as a restaurant.”
And in spite of the long days, the constant demands and worries — it seemed on a yearly basis, the partners had to decide whether or not to stay open —
and the uncertainty, in the end, for most small business owners, the bottom line is there is great satisfaction in working for yourself. “Being self-employed is a
lot of fun,” Thomas emphasized. “Being self-employed has its perks. I like to look at our perks and our upside more. I will also take on the challenges of the
downside. It’s still all about not having to look over your shoulder of not coming up short for someone who is the boss or not looking for that compliment
because the boss isn’t paying attention and you just did a great job. Me personally, I don’t know what else to do in life. I mean I do, but I prefer to do this. I
know I have to be consistent with our product because I know what the people like. And in the restaurant business, what I know, is that every day is like last
week’s day. Monday is like Monday and so on. You prepare for it. What I find fortunate is that I know I have people who believe in what I do. I look at it as just
having fun in the kitchen. I know a lot of people have sacrificed to put this right where we are today. None of the stuff is ever forgotten or abused. I’m always
appreciative.”
So the co-owners of Kipp’s will take it one day at a time while still working toward their big dreams. Who knows, maybe some franchising will be in their
future? It’s a hectic, uncertain life. But it is a life that they know they are living and each day’s challenges and successes make them feel alive. Their business
may be on the edge sometimes, but it is their business and for the most part, they control its destiny. And serving up great food and bringing smiles to
customers and employees alike isn’t such a bad way to go through life. Thomas can’t think of anything that is finer.
Forrest “Kipp” Thomas (l-r), Kym
Miller and Mike Miller, along with
Kym and Mike’s dad Jerry, are the
mainstays of Kipp’s Down Home
Cookin’.
Miller and Mike Miller, along with
Kym and Mike’s dad Jerry, are the
mainstays of Kipp’s Down Home
Cookin’.
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 2 of 2
Forrest “Kipp” Thomas and Mike Miller, along with Miller’s father Jerry, are the active partners of Kipp’s Down Home
Cookin’, which recently won a 2008 Dane County Small Business Award. One would think that Kipp’s has it made with
some name recognition, an excellent line of food products and wonderful employees. Yet, each year, each month, each
day, it’s a matter of staying alive. They are small business entrepreneurs who by sheer grit and determination have kept
their doors open since 1996, first at a Fitchburg location before they moved to a storefront on Monroe Street in close
proximity to Camp Randall.
“Sometimes, we still feel like pioneers, pioneers in the restaurant business, pioneers as a minority-owned business,”
Thomas said during an interview with The Capital City Hues. “There are a lot of things that keep you humble, but you
have to keep unlocking the door and keep cooking. We have our trials and tribulations. And when we get over them, we
all sit back and exhale a little.”
Since they moved the business to the campus area, the student market has been their double-edged sword, but they
have adapted. “The students have supported us very well, since we are centrally located around campus,” Thomas said.
“That has been one of our biggest pushes, getting out to the campus and catering to the different departments. But with
the location where we are, we know students are gone for holidays. During the summer, students are gone. But they do
come back for summer school. What we’ve done is market ourselves as a catering restaurant too, so that when students
Part 2 of 2
Forrest “Kipp” Thomas and Mike Miller, along with Miller’s father Jerry, are the active partners of Kipp’s Down Home
Cookin’, which recently won a 2008 Dane County Small Business Award. One would think that Kipp’s has it made with
some name recognition, an excellent line of food products and wonderful employees. Yet, each year, each month, each
day, it’s a matter of staying alive. They are small business entrepreneurs who by sheer grit and determination have kept
their doors open since 1996, first at a Fitchburg location before they moved to a storefront on Monroe Street in close
proximity to Camp Randall.
“Sometimes, we still feel like pioneers, pioneers in the restaurant business, pioneers as a minority-owned business,”
Thomas said during an interview with The Capital City Hues. “There are a lot of things that keep you humble, but you
have to keep unlocking the door and keep cooking. We have our trials and tribulations. And when we get over them, we
all sit back and exhale a little.”
Since they moved the business to the campus area, the student market has been their double-edged sword, but they
have adapted. “The students have supported us very well, since we are centrally located around campus,” Thomas said.
“That has been one of our biggest pushes, getting out to the campus and catering to the different departments. But with
the location where we are, we know students are gone for holidays. During the summer, students are gone. But they do
come back for summer school. What we’ve done is market ourselves as a catering restaurant too, so that when students