It's past 2 o’clock on a Wednesday, a time when the lunchtime rush slows to a trickle at most restaurants, but customers are still streaming through the door at the new Mellow Mushroom in Fayetteville. The gourmet pizza restaurant has been open just two days but there’s no sign of confusion or delays. As the waitstaff briskly takes orders and the cooks pull steaming pies, calzones and specialty sandwiches out of the ovens, one man sitting at a table over by the bar watches with intense interest.

Fogleman employs more than 100 people at his Mellow Mushroom restaurant in Fayetteville. His outlet in Greenville opens in early 2012.

He’s the proprietor, Reid Fogleman ’89, who has labored 75 to 80 hours a week since the beginning of the year preparing for this moment. He’s says he’s still excited about the community support demonstrated at the grand opening on Monday.

Instead of the traditional ribbon cutting, he invited the community to share in a pizza cutting and a $4,000 check presentation to Fayetteville Cares, an organization that supports Fort Bragg families. He’s especially looking forward to opening the Greenville restaurant, which will be located on a Greenville Mall outparcel on Charles Boulevard almost within sight of the football stadium.

Many of his closest friends are alumni he’s associated with through various booster organizations, including the five alumni who are a part of his restaurant venture. “I learned so many important things in college,” he says as a smile creeps across his face, a telltale sign that a joke is about to follow. “Like, you always start tailgating three hours before the game, and at the beginning of the semester you should find out if your professors have an attendance policy.” He leans forward, serious again, an index finger tapping the table for emphasis.

“No, the most important thing in college for me was developing a lot of relationships. East Carolina allowed me to meet a lot of people, read a lot of minds. “I worked for (former senior associate athletics director) Jimmy Bass in the sports marketing group, I worked at WZMB (the campus radio station), I worked at Chico’s and Cubbie’s (two downtown restaurants). So, I was always out and about, meeting people. It’s amazing how those relationships I made then helped me to get where I am today.”


College connections

The restaurant business is not actually a new field for Fogleman, who also is chief marketing officer of Maxwell 3, a small but successful PR and brand marketing company in Raleigh. “I had been doing that for 16 years, and it was rewarding. But one day I sat down, reflected on my passions, and I asked myself what I really enjoyed doing. I thought back to the time after college when I moved to Atlanta and worked in management for the Rio Bravo chain. I was 27 and I loved it. So, I realized then that I was really good at the restaurant business.” Another reason he remembered Atlanta fondly is that’s where he met his wife, Jenny, a University of Georgia graduate. They now have three children. “Our favorite restaurant then was Mellow Mushroom. So I have some really good associations with that brand.” Mellow Mushroom was founded in Atlanta in 1974 by two Georgia Tech roommates. It now has around 120 outlets nationwide.

All Fogleman needed to make his dream a reality was investors, who weren’t hard to find once he put out some feelers through the ECU grapevine. His partners in Capital Food Group, the operating company he formed, are Jim Ward III ’74 of Greenville, a real estate developer; Burney Warren III ’70 of Greenville, a former executive vice president of BB&T; David Bond ’78 of Raleigh, former president and COO of A4 Health Systems of Cary, a health care IT company; Steven W. Jones ’91 of Raleigh, CEO of VantageSouth Bank and an ECU trustee; and Bob Greczyn ’73 of Cary, the retired CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina who is a former trustees chairman. Greczyn is more than a passive investor in the business. He recently opened a Mellow Mushroom of his own, in Cary. Capital Food Group then retained Soaring Management, a company Fogleman created to manage the restaurants.

“The biggest challenge has been this: When you bring dynamic individuals together you have dynamic expectations. They are all very successful, very smart people. They expect a lot out of this. But I am the operations guy. I am the majority owner. I created the management company that will operate this restaurant and the others that will follow. But if I don’t do well, the investors can fire the management company.” Besides his investors, Fogleman has been getting advice from another alumnus who knows a thing or two about the restaurant business—James Maynard ’65, the founder of the Golden Corral chain of restaurants. “One time he asked me, ‘What’s the most important fertilizer a farmer puts on his crops?’ He said, ‘It’s his shadow.’ I really didn’t understand what he meant until after I had worked so many hours to get the restaurant opened. He meant that the most valuable thing you can invest in a business is your time and attention.” Maynard’s advice has been tactical as well as theoretical. “Another time he asked me, ‘How many hours should you book yourself on the work schedule?’ I threw out all kinds of numbers, but his response was, ‘Don’t ever put yourself on the schedule because you don’t want the staff to know when you’re coming.’”


Giving back for what he got

As someone who values relationships and appreciates how much he has benefitted from his ECU connections, Fogleman has been unstinting in giving back to his alma mater. He is a Jarvis Circle member of the Chancellors’ Society and he and his wife endow an Access Scholarship. He has served for three years on the ECU Foundation, the main fundraising arm of the university. During that time the foundation was part of the Second Century Campaign, which raised more than $200 million. In October he began a two-year term as chairman of the foundation, succeeding Carol Mabe ’70 of Oriental, the former president of Russell Athletic.

The passing of that baton is widely seen as a generational change for the foundation, a signal that it’s time for younger alumni to shoulder their share of the load. “The biggest need we have now is to continue to recruit some strong board members. We need to keep a diverse group in place. With our budgets being slashed, fundraising has never been more important. I think you will see some younger faces (on that board and others) but there still will be plenty of mentors there. The important point is we can’t be complacent.”

Michael “Dusty” Field ’94 of Cary, who has worked with Fogleman on several local civic projects, predicts some hot times for the Mello Mushrooms. “We’ve spent many nights talking of opportunities, strategies, timing and the importance of execution. Most businesses start off slow, but this one will fly straight out of the gate.” Henry Hinton ’76 of Greenville, president of the Hinton Media Group who serves with Fogleman on the ECU Foundation board, says, “Reid is a dynamo. He’s a combination of energy and passion and he loves ECU.” Most Mellow Mushrooms are decorated to reflect the interests and tastes of the local community, which is why Fogleman used jet fighter wings for the bar in the Fayetteville restaurant. So, how will he decorate the one in Greenville, which is expected to open in mid-February? “I think there may be a Pirate involved,” he deadpans.