5 & Diner Franchise Corporation - Founder Launches Business Career in Mid-1960s
Founder Launches Business Career in Mid-1960s
Ken Higginbotham was born and raised in Southern California, where both his mother and father were motorcycle enthusiasts. As a result he grew up around motorcycles and also became involved in go-carts. After high school he attended Portland State University but was soon distracted from his studies because of a sideline business, Wheelsport Distributing, which he launched in 1965 to distribute motorcycle accessories, such as helmets, handlebars, and batteries. It was proving so successful that he decided to drop out of school to focus on it and was able to attract investors in the form of a neighbor, a Xerox salesman, and his friend. With their backing Higginbotham was able to move beyond distribution and begin manufacturing motorcycle parts through California-based KC Manufacturing.
Higginbotham and KC Manufacturing prospered, but Higginbotham eventually grew tired of the business and the Pacific Northwest. In 1978 he decided to move his family to the Southwest, settling in Phoenix, Arizona. Here he worked as a consultant, helping a friend to open a wholesale operation, Amwest Distributing, to sell hardware to cabinet manufacturers. Among other tasks, he set up a warehouse and hired the sales staff, but after the business was up and running Higginbotham grew restless and was on the lookout for a new business opportunity. During the previous 15 years his work had entailed a great deal of travel, and as a result he developed something of an infatuation with restaurants. Most of his favorite places were vintage mom-and-pop diners. He had no experience in the food industry, but felt confident that as a customer he had developed a strong sense of what made a restaurant successful. Higginbotham and a friend from his church, Noel Canland, toyed with the idea of starting a restaurant together, but Canland eventually acquired a Mexican restaurant on his own. Canland's broker, however, helped Higginbotham find his own restaurant to buy: a coffee shop in West Phoenix called Ted's Country Kitchen.
In 1980 Higginbotham bought Ted's, changed its name to K's Family Restaurant (the "K" standing for Ken), and quickly discovered that he had a lot to learn about the food industry. He was used to running a straightforward business, like parts manufacturing, in which you delivered a quality, functional part at a reasonable price and you could expect to be successful. "With a restaurant," he explained in a 2005 interview, "you have to deliver your product to the table, making sure its hot and not cold, at the right price and the right portion. A lot of different elements come into play and you have to rely on a lot of people." Fortunately he was well funded and could afford to learn on the job. Although the business was turning a profit after a couple of months, he estimated it took him about a year to turn over the coffee shop's staff and make a true success out of K's. During that time he worked seven days a week without taking off a single day.
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