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Entrepreneur Banking On Ice Dream

Tribune photo by JIM REED

Greg Sausaman has rebounded after being laid off by Dunkin Donuts to become a partner in ice cream startup Topper's Creamery.

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By TED JACKOVICS

tjackovics@tampatrib.com

Published: March 1, 2009

VALRICO - Greg Sausaman was on Dunkin' Donuts' fast track in management in 2003 when he was summoned from Tampa to a meeting in Orlando.

Dunkin' Donuts had restructured its top level of executives some months earlier, so Sausaman braced himself, despite his standing with the company.

"How are you doing?" Sausaman asked the person who greeted him, getting only a sigh in response. "You're letting me go, aren't you?" said the married father of two. "I'm afraid so," was the reply.

Sausaman had thought ahead and handed over a letter thanking the company for his employment. But it was impossible not to take the layoff personally.

"No matter what the circumstances, it comes down to the fact that they really don't want you, they really don't have a place for you," he said.

Despite the rejection, he parlayed aggressive networking into finding a new job in 90 days with Beef O'Brady's. It was his networking and his entrepreneurial instincts that allowed him to become a partner in a recent start-up soft ice cream franchise, Topper's Creamery, with plans to expand from two shops in Tampa and Valrico to more than 100 locations statewide in five years.

Keeping The Faith

Sausaman has learned to remain flexible in tough times, relying on a core set of personal and business principles that have paid off in coping with adversity.

"I made sure my faith was more powerful than my fear," Sausaman said. "You must retain faith. I feel good about what we have put together."

The timing to launch a business could hardly seem worse. But the partners think that even in an economic downturn, people want an occasional reward for themselves and their families.

Sausaman, 48, works 10 to 14 hours a day, sometimes seven days a week, mostly at the tiny ice cream cone-shaped shop that opened recently near his Valrico home. The first Topper's opened in September on Hillsborough Avenue in West Tampa.

He launched his career in management with Domino's Pizza after earning a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of South Florida in 1983. The man who hired him, Wade Oney, was instrumental in starting the partnership group backing Topper's Creamery.

Sausaman invested in a string of Domino's franchises in Jacksonville and Gainesville, but he and his wife, Donna, sold their holdings in 1996 to return to Tampa, where he found a job with Dunkin' Donuts.

By the time Sausaman moved on to Beef O'Brady's, Oney had become more involved with the notion of starting a soft ice cream brand. In 2006, Sausaman left Beef O'Brady's to join Oney and a small, evolving partnership group.

"You have to ask yourself, what is your backup plan, especially in a high-risk deal," Sausaman said. "Frankly, we did not have one.

"But you cannot steal second base with your foot on first. We have poured our life savings into this and we have hoped and prayed about it."

Preparation And Partners

What differentiates Sausaman from many entrepreneurs is that when he made his big move, he was prepared with education and job experience. He also partnered with a group with knowledge about hidden business pitfalls.

Details were carefully worked out, such as a vanilla ice cream formula that took more than 60 tries. But the experienced group didn't foresee some issues they encountered.

The government permitting process took about two years for the West Tampa and Valrico shops. After waiting more than three weeks for a signature from one official, the group learned that their paperwork and plans had been lost, delaying the opening.

For those who might not have the background and financial support to move forward as an entrepreneur, Sausaman offered advice.

"You have to do your homework. You have to be prepared to risk everything you have."

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817.

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