Family won’t let dreams be denied by setbacks

When the Papa John’s restaurants closed in January, Rob Baldwin helped franchise owner Kevin Maines put the “Closed” signs on the doors and notify employees they need not come to work.

It was the first time the 43-year-old had been out of work since a pre-adolescence doing chores for his dad, Gene King “Baldy” Baldwin, operator of the Hi Neighbor and Lucky Penny taverns.

Rob Baldwin says he was managing a KFC store at age 17. He was a night manager at Cavanaugh’s Inn at the Park, director of security at Silver Lanes when it first became a casino, and also worked three years with Pizza Hut.

He started work at the Indian Trail Papa John’s 13 years ago as a favor to a friend.

Baldwin says the then-franchise owner was so impressed by that store’s sales growth that he moved him to the main store at Indiana and Monroe. There, he almost tripled weekly sales in one year, eventually quadrupling them to about $16,000. He became one of two regional managers, a promotion that did not come with a pay increase, just the promise of a piece of the profits when the franchise owner sold.

He sold, but claimed there were no profits.

Baldwin says Maines was a good owner, but struggled with setbacks from overexpansion, contracts with school districts and other public institutions that were slow to pay, and the effects of Washington’s high minimum wage. Papa John’s service standards required more manpower than is affordable, Baldwin says, noting that at one time or another every member of his family worked for Papa John’s.

The chain did not cut Maines any slack on royalties from sales, or the cost of food that franchisees must purchase from the company, Baldwin says.

Maines drained his own savings to keep the business going, Baldwin says, adding “I would go back to work for Kevin in a second.”

But not Papa John’s, despite his faith in the quality of the pizza. Even though a son and daughter have returned to stores as assistant managers.

Having twice built pizza store sales up for other owners, Baldwin says, “It seems like it should be my turn.”

He wants to open his own place, a casual family restaurant. He and wife Brenda incorporated as R$B Enterprises Inc. as a prelude to getting business and liquor licenses. They have been talking with the owner of the former Hedge House Restaurant on North Monroe about a lease.

Rob says the name will be a tribute to his dad, who ran the kind of friendly establishment he wants: “Baldy’s Last Dollar.”

Ironic, given their biggest hurdle – money. The couple completed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in January. Over a five-year period, they repaid $87,000 of slightly less than $100,000 in debt Baldwin attributes to medical expenses for himself and his children.

Although they have about 50 percent equity in their home, banks that have shown interest in the business plan do not want to lend to anyone who emerged from a bankruptcy so recently, even if the Baldwins did repay almost 90 percent of their debt.

“The amount we paid back should stand for something,” he says.

While Rob collects unemployment and stews in discouragement, Brenda brings home an Eastern State Hospital paycheck that takes care of most of the bills. She’s the family optimist.

If they can hold on, she says, they can wait out the banks and have a business the family can rally to as they did for many years at Papa John’s.

“I won’t let him give up on it,” Brenda says. “It’s a dream, and it’s going to happen.”