JHOP Enterprises

My start in business

I have always been fascinated by businesses and how they operate.  In college, I bought an electric griddle and, with a friend, started a business selling pancakes two nights a week in our dorm. 

The idea for the enterprise started at an IHOP on National Pancake Day (Fat Tuesday).  My friend and I were discussing ways to pay for our own electric pancake griddle, and we decided to sell pancakes in our dorm.  That evening I bought over $120 worth of supplies and equipment.  We spent the next month “testing” pancakes and calculating exactly how much we should charge per pancake.  We settled on $.50 per pancake and, to prevent oversaturation, decided to only sell two nights a week.

The business, which we named JHOP (Jack’s House of Pancakes) Enterprises, did very well and we learned a lot.  We discovered that sales would go up on evenings when the college’s cafeteria served unpopular meals.  Occasionally, we would advertise and sell pancakes on unscheduled nights solely because the cafeteria’s dinner wasn't popular.

We also learned to innovate and the importance of business analysis.  I came up with the idea to sell pancakes “taco style” (chocolate chips rolled in a pancake) which increased profit significantly more than we had expected for the additional $.25 charged.  A little analysis showed that in addition to charging an extra $.25, we were also reducing consumption of our most expensive ingredients: butter, syrup, and plastic forks.  This taught me the importance of understanding not only how single components of a system work, but also how they fit into the whole.

JHOP was one of the more informative and enjoyable experiences I have.  My friend and I not only made money, but we also had a great time and learned much about business.  I often draw on lessons I learned from that small business.