Tastee Freez: Setting the Example for How Small Business Can Make a Big Impact.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: JUNIOR ACHIEVMENT SPECIAL SECTION

On July 15, 1994 Rich Owens started a conversation with Mike Cluff about buying the Tastee Freez that Guff owned in Anchorage on the corner of Jewel Lake and Raspberry.

The deal was done in two weeks.

July 15 was a Friday, and by the following Monday, Guff and Owens had agreed on a price and were figuring out a timeline. "I'd been in the restaurant, hotel, and tourism business here long enough to know that, come the end of September, things get pretty quiet, so I wanted to have a couple good months," Owens laughs. "So I said, 'How about August 1?"

Former Governor Sean Parnell, who was at the time a practicing attorney, wrote up the contract for the deal--after expressing his concern about the timeline. The next step was financing, secured through First National Bank Alaska, which also questioned the two week turnaround.

"Well, the attorney can get it done. Is that a problem?" Owens asked the bank. It turned out it wasn't.

At 9 a.m. on August 1, 1994, Owens and Guff closed the sale and Guff handed him the keys.

It's a fantastic illustration of the reason why Owens was drawn to owning his own business. "When you work for a large corporation, the pros are it's got benefits, it's a steady paycheck, there's lots of room to expand and grow, but you can't really make your own decisions in how you share your time, talent, and treasure, basically."

Owens' interest in buying the Anchorage Tastee Freez was grounded in his dedication to making sure his business would be able to provide jobs to young people and support his community, which he's done now for nearly thirty years.

Treating People Right

He attributes his community-forward attitude to his upbringing. "There are three boys in my family--I'm the middle--but all three of us are basically the same as far as community service and philanthropy, our view of how we treat people, and how we share what we have. Which is kind of neat, because my parents never really sat us down and talked to us about it, we just observed the way they led their lives--philanthropy, community service, and treating people right, that was something that they did every day. It wasn't the exception, it was the rule."

Owens grew up in Montana working in the drug store his parents operated together for forty years; his father was the pharmacist, and his mother managed operations and hiring. In addition to their children, Owens' parents routinely hired other high schoolers, providing an example of engaging young people in the...