Jeff Fischer, Houck’s Grille and Independent Business Consultant (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 531)
After a successful career at UPS, Jeff Fischer settled into full-time business ownership and consulting with small businesses and non-profits. Jeff joined host John Ray on this edition of North Fulton Business Radio to discuss his career path and what he learned from his time at UPS, how he helps the organizations he consults with, the great food and drink at Houck’s Grille, their private dining and event space, and much more.
North Fulton Business Radio is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Houck’s Grille
Located in the heart of Roswell, Houck’s offers classic American dining, a large event facility & weekly live entertainment.
This favorite American restaurant was open back in the day, and its owners decided to re-imagine the menu and space and bring it back to Atlanta. Whether you are looking to stop by for brunch, dinner, or lunch, their menu has a wide array of delicious choices to fulfill your appetite.
Houck’s is also a bar and grill, and they serve a number of local tap beers! They pride themselves on the huge event space attached to the facility.
Live music and entertainment is always in abundance on the weekends, and private events can be booked for birthday parties, wedding rehearsals, and more! Just give them a call today at (770) 993-8000 to ask about any of these options!
They also have a private dining space, inclusive of: – A private entrance for you and your guests – Private Men’s/ Women’s Restrooms – Per-person pricing – Personal event coordination services – A dedicated bartender for your very own bar – Drink packages for every budget – Customized menus
Contact the Events Director, Shelby Walsh for more information by email at shelby.walsh@houcksgrille.com or by phone at 404.368.0223
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Jeff Fischer, Owner, Houck’s Grille and Independent Business Consultant
Jeff Fischer has over 35 years of experience within the global supply chain industry; of which the final 25 were with UPS. During his UPS career, Jeff worked on developing integrated logistics solutions for the world’s largest Fortune 100 companies. He was a key member of a UPS team that won a $1 Billion service parts logistics contract with IBM followed by a $750 Million similar logistics deal with Compaq; the 2 largest revenue opportunities for UPS at the time. This was followed by converting 4,000+ Mail Boxes Etc. (MBE) to The UPS Store retail network, and later in his career directing the operations of a customer contact center in Richmond, VA.
Prior to joining UPS, Jeff worked for Fuji Photo Film USA and Lever Brothers in New York. Jeff has written and published over 100 articles for a variety of logistics and business magazines. He was an adjunct professor in New York and Georgia colleges teaching logistics, international management, thesis research and writing, and organizational management.
He holds both a Bachelor of Science in Transportation and Distribution Management and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Syracuse University; and earned a Master of Business Administration in Management from Long Island University. Jeff is a native of the New York City area and moved to Atlanta with UPS in 1994.
He has been married to his wife Nancy 37 years with 2 adult children Matthew and Christine. Jeff has been the co-owner of Roswell’s Houck’s Grille since opening in 2015 and the primary face and voice of Houck’s since the pandemic in the spring of 2020. Since retiring from UPS, in April 2018, Jeff has also been supporting many local non-profits by leveraging his acquired business acumen and corporate experience through Houck’s Grille as well as his consulting practice, The Whole Business LLC.
Whether sponsoring a cause, hanging a poster, having a community giveback day, etc., leveraging the space and Houck’s brand is an opportunity, even during the pandemic, to give back to the community. In some cases, the combination of being a former executive of three Fortune 100 companies and owner of a small family restaurant has afforded Jeff the opportunity to serve as an advisory board, board, or executive board member.
As an independent consultant, in addition to non-profits, Jeff helps small and medium sizes companies increase revenue, improve profitability, improve customer experience, and/or reduce operational expense by taking a holistic 360-degree of all processes within the order-to-cash cycle or simply put, within the four walls of a business, to see what’s working and what’s not.
Questions and Topics in this Interview:
- Briefly discuss your global supply chain/logistics career pre-UPS and UPS, and the transition to owning a small business
- Why start a restaurant?
- How have your past corporate background and present restaurant ownership redefined you or help you now in this part of your life?
- What are some of the business skills or experiences you’ve had helped specifically with non-profits?
- How do you typically engage with a non-profit? What are they typically asking of you or Houck’s?
- How have your family and friends, whether growing up or now, influenced and guided you?
- So, what’s next for you?
North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.
Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.
Special thanks to A&S Culinary Concepts for their support of this edition of North Fulton Business Radio. A&S Culinary Concepts, based in Johns Creek, is an award-winning culinary studio, celebrated for corporate catering, corporate team building, Big Green Egg Boot Camps, and private group events. They also provide oven-ready, cooked-from-scratch meals to go they call “Let Us Cook for You.” To see their menus and events, go to their website or call 678-336-9196.
