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Old Fashioned Ethics and Ethnic Food
By Jennifer McGuiggan, Communications Coordinator
Most successful entrepreneurs exhibit many of the same qualities: innovation, leadership, vision, and a strong work ethic. But there's another attribute that's too often overlooked: character. With a solid combination of work ethic and "old-fashioned" ethics, Helen Mannarino, Founder and Owner of Pierogies Plus (www.pierogiesplus.com), is turning her niche business into a national success.
"Business was always in my heart because I grew up in a family restaurant," explains Mannarino. She grew up in Poland and immigrated to the United States in 1974. After several years of working in the food industry in Pittsburgh, PA, she came to a crossroads. "It was time in my life I decided I needed to do something." As she saw it, her options included going back to work, furthering her education, or pursuing her dream of opening a business. Right from this initial decision, ethics - and faith - played an important role in Mannarino's direction. A strong believer in God, she prayed for guidance. The answer: open a restaurant that serves the comfort food of her homeland.
The next practical step was to get some business assistance. She was one of 16 people accepted to a business training program offered by the Urban League if Pittsburgh. There she received help choosing a business name and location, writing a business plan, and even obtaining her initial loan of $5,000. "Without them," she says, "I don't know if I would be in business."
Now over eleven years later, Pierogies Plus is going strong in its original location: a renovated gas station in McKees Rocks. There is a story behind this unique setting, of course. As Mannarino sought for a place to locate her new business, her husband's gas station was no longer viable in its original form. At his suggestion, they began the long process of readying it to become something completely new. In all, the process took longer than she thought it would: two years to prepare the property, buy equipment, etc. "I thought it would be quick," she now says with a chuckle.
When the preparations were interrupted by upheaval in her personal life, a friend persuaded her not to give up on her dream and advised that she could start out small. Encouraged, Mannarino thought, "Wow, yes, I can do one or two days." So she and a friend kept the business running by selling pierogies two days a week. She increased her operating hours until Pierogies Plus was eventually open six days a week. Along the way, she hired her first employee and her mother even came from Poland to help. Business is still booming, but she's now scaled back to a five-day schedule, even though she knows she could have weekend business. She made this decision to allow her employees, mostly women from Eastern Europe, to spend weekends with their families.
This attention to detail and a personal touch pervades everything she does, from the interactions with employees to the preparation of the food. All the food, including each individual pierogie, is hand-made daily by real Eastern Europeans, many of whom have been preparing these recipes for over 40 years. As her website boasts, "It's no wonder we're known for having the most authentic pierogies and other ethnic dishes around."
As the business grew, there were some tough times along the way, but Mannarino never lost faith. She identified a time when there was not enough cash flow - "a time I couldn't make payroll and had to go to the bank to borrow money… that was the scariest time." But each time that she has needed a boost, something has come along to help her out. Often the help has come in the form of a reporter. As a result of increased press coverage, Mannarino says, business naturally picked up. And there's also the miraculous story of a personal investor who suddenly and unexpectedly forgave the remaining balance on her loan and even returned what she'd already paid him.
Pierogies Plus recently gained national recognition when Food Network contacted her to be featured on "Food Finds," a program that tracks down long-lost favorites by visiting vendors that take pride in making specialty foods the old-fashioned way.
When "Food Finds" first contacted Mannarino, they explained that if featured, she must be able to ship her products nationally. Mannarino worried that people would never pay the costs to ship fresh (not frozen) pierogies. They told her not to worry and explained that people were willing to pay the price for good food - some viewers had paid over $100 for ice cream! Convinced, she prepared for the national exposure by setting up a website and standardizing shipping procedures.
This exposure has led to what she considers her proudest business accomplishment: "Being able to manage what we're managing now." Since being featured on "Food Finds," their shipping orders have greatly increased.
This increased business comes at just the right time. Pierogies Plus is in expansion mode. Mannarino has just purchased a property in the Strip District area of Pittsburgh to use as extra production space. The additional revenue generated by increased business has helped her pursue these expansion plans and is a positive point as she prepares to submit her latest loan request package to the bank. "It is scary, but it's exciting," Mannarino says of all this attention and expansion.
The food of Pierogies Plus can be found in other locations besides her restaurant. Several local Pittsburgh businesses sell her pierogies, including McGinnis Sisters Specialty Food Stores in Monroeville and Brentwood, Cash Market in Coraopolis, Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, and The Foundry Ale Works in the Strip District. Additionally, she acquired an account with the national specialty food store Whole Foods when it opened in Pittsburgh last fall. There has also been talk of distributing her products in the 25 Whole Foods stores on the East Coast and throughout the Midwest region stores as well.
This expansion, Mannarino explains, "is part of my bigger dream - to have a similar business in Poland." Specifically, she plans to take her business to the disadvantaged region in northern Poland where her family resides. She envisions this business as a sort of non-profit that employs women and then uses the revenues for social programs such shelters and soup kitchens, which, she says, are still rare in Poland. "I have a heart for women who are hurting," she explains. Her drive, optimism, and faith shine through when she asserts that she expects this venture to be in full operation in ten years.
Mannarino's business philosophy is simple, time-honored, and rare. As a self-described "Christian businesswoman," she ardently believes in doing everything honestly and by the book, so that if Jesus himself were to walk through the door of her restaurant, she would be glad to serve him.
Business seems to allow little room for spirituality, and until recently - when corporate scandals have brought them back - ethics were also out of style. Some may be inclined to scoff at Mannarino's faith-filled approach to business, but that would be the wrong reaction. Her's is more than just a feel-good story - it's a tale of serious business accomplishments.
March 2003 |
