Small Matters, Uncommon Assets, and a different approach to building food businesses in Arizona

(This short story continues the Arizona C-CAP feature presented in the August edition of Restaurateur of Arizona. There's a link to the magazine in the right margin listing.)

Those who have private epiphanies often decide to make big changes in their lives.

Then there's Roy Allen.  His epiphany was considerably larger.

He'd become a pro in the food industry after high school, where he credits a caring teacher with getting him into a culinary program.

Some 30 years in the food industry later (including a stint as a restaurant owner), Allen's epiphany encompassed not simply changing his own life, or improving others' lives, but finding a way to change the community.

Deeply affected by September 11 and ensuing national events, he was determined to change things.

Big time.

He went back to school, picking up his bachelor's in business and economics at Empire State College before moving on to SUNY Buffalo's master's program in the science of creativity.

It was when he decided to go for the doctorate that things got interesting.

"I was checking out the program at Stanford," he says, "when I came upon this little building that was the Martin Luther King Institute.  And then I met Clay Carson (director of the King Institute)."

His conversations with Dr. Carson covered a wide range, including theology and psychology.  They were both stimulating and thought-provoking.

Allen went back to Buffalo and began working on a little pilot study, working with students to, as he says, "help them see how to create their own opportunities."  He called it "Uncommon Assets."

In essence, he explains, it is an eight to 10 year training program model similar to the old guild system.  Participants can move from intern to master, by invitation upon completion of required studies and skill levels.

About that time, an old friend implored him to help save her small, failing, food-related business.

Bingo. 

Today, Roy Allen works with distinct elements that have developed from that epiphany.  Each is different, each responds to a different aspect, but all share the essential perspective that, in creating opportunities for people, ideas and (sometimes) businesses) might work together to create more success both individually and collectively.

Win, win, win, in other words.

As Doc Brown says, "You can be in business and not be a shark.  This sets a precedent for establishing a community - of businesses that act together as a community."

He's fully aware of the pitfalls and problems that can arise, as simple as conflicting schedules and as complex as any working venture can be.

But still.

"You have to be open to the possibilities," he says.

Along with Roy Allen, he's also working to create those possibilities.