A graduate of the applied entrepreneurship class in the Craig School of Business at Missouri Western State University returned to St. Joseph for the next step in his business career. Scott Lassen has purchased the Golden Corral at 715 N. Belt Highway. The Grand Opening celebration introducing his new ownership will be at noon Wednesday, March 2 at the Golden Corral.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Golden Corral is an amazing opportunity for me to own and operate a larger business,\u201d Lassen said. \u201cI think there are some real possibilities to grow the business and to be more engaged with the St. Joseph community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lassen received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Missouri Western in 2010 and a Master of Business Administration from California State University-Long Beach in 2011. In 2013, he enrolled in the applied entrepreneurship class at the Craig School of Business. At the end of the class he was awarded an opportunity to purchase a Fresca\u2019s Mexican Grill in Woodburn, Oregon that was owned by Steve Craig, benefactor of the Craig School and founder of the applied entrepreneurship class.<\/p>\n
In just three months, Lassen turned Fresca\u2019s from losing thousands of dollars each year into a profitable store. Two years later, he sold the Fresca\u2019s store, to another participant in the applied entrepreneurship program in order to give back to the program and use the sale proceeds to purchase the Golden Corral in St. Joseph.<\/p>\n
The store he just purchased is approximately four times the revenue of his former Fresca\u2019s store and has about six times the number of employees. \u201cScott is one of the stars of our program,\u201d said Pam Klaus, director of franchise programs in the Craig School of Business. \u201cBy turning around a small business, he has earned the opportunity to own and manage a much larger business. He has the desire to make a positive impact in everything he is involved in, and it\u2019s exciting to watch him grow as an entrepreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to owning the Golden Corral restaurant, Lassen develops applications for the iOS operating system (iPhone\/iPad), including one to help people learn to speak, read and write Arabic. He has also developed an app which expedites counting inventory for restaurants. He says he draws inspiration from several businessmen, including Steve Jobs, Steven Craig, and Elon Musk\u2014the CEO of technology companies including SpaceX and Tesla Motors.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy role models don\u2019t focus on making money\u2014they change the world. Money is just a byproduct of their efforts and ideas,\u201d Lassen said. \u201cI also want to do things that will improve the quality of life for people from the money I earn from Golden Corral.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one of the best examples of the vision of the program\u2019s architect, Steve Craig.\u201d said Dr. Michael Lane, dean of the Craig School of Business. \u201cWe provide the winners with a minimal risk opportunity to assume ownership of their first franchise so they can gain valuable experience which is extremely critical when they move into more complex business opportunities. This is a great step forward for Scott and I know he will do an outstanding job of operating the Golden Corral. I\u2019m sure that existing customers of the restaurant will see immediate improvements in the quality of the food as well as the overall dining experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am extremely pleased that we are beginning to experience, at a local level, the benefits of the MWSU entrepreneurship program,\u201d said Steven Craig. \u201cI had always hoped and envisioned that some of our graduates of the program would return to St. Joseph to help reinvigorate not only individual businesses, but the business community as a whole. Scott is the type of person that can do just that. He was a top student as well as an amazing entrepreneur in his first business. He did everything that was asked of him during the last 2\u00bd years and now he has put himself in a position to own and manage a terrific business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI also appreciate Scott\u2019s desire to make a positive impact within St. Joseph and the surrounding communities. He\u2019s not just here to \u2018make a buck,\u2019 but rather to help make the community a better place to live. With a lot of hard work and the support of the community, he will make Golden Corral a great business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI share Steve Craig\u2019s vision of applied entrepreneurship class graduates returning to bolster the local economy. I\u2019m very happy that Scott has come back to St. Joseph for the next step in his entrepreneurial career, and wish him all the best,\u201d said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western\u2019s president. \u201cI\u2019m also very grateful to the previous owners, Brian and Sherry Shively, for making this opportunity available to Scott.\u201d<\/p>\n
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit <\/em>www.missouriwestern.edu<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A graduate of the applied entrepreneurship class in the Craig School of Business at Missouri Western State University returned to St. Joseph for the next step in his business career. Scott Lassen has purchased the Golden Corral at 715 N. Belt Highway. The Grand Opening celebration introducing his new ownership will be at noon Wednesday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,27,48],"tags":[112,262,346],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7576,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4327\/revisions\/7576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}