NSU Horizons Spring/Summer 2008

I t started as a college joke. Snowed in at Syracuse University, Kenneth Rader pondered the idea of a café that sold only breakfast cereal—a place like Starbucks, but for cereal lovers. The snow melted, and Rader eventually left Syracuse to return to his home in South Florida, but the idea stayed with him. He ran the concept of a cereal café by his twin brother, Josh, who was set to begin working towards his master’s degree in accounting at Nova Southeastern University’s H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship, and their childhood friend, Michael Glassman. It didn’t take long before the cereal café fantasy was becoming a reality. “The more we thought about it, the more we realized maybe it isn’t as crazy as it sounds,” Rader said. “So we started writing some ideas and eventually started a business plan toward the concept.” Rader, then at Florida Inter- national University, was still working towards his bachelor’s degree. With the goal of opening his own business in the works, he enrolled at NSU and, in January 2004, began studying business and professional management at the Huizenga School. “I finally decided we were going to go ahead with this, and I figured NSU’s a great place to study entrepreneurship,” he said. By the middle of 2005, the Rader twins and Glassman had a business plan; a loan from the Small Business Administration; a lease on a store in a strip mall on South Dixie Highway in Coral Gables, across from the University of Miami; and a name—The Cereal Bowl. But, as is often the case when starting a new business, obstacles arose. A planned opening in November 2005 was postponed due to delays in construction and hurricanes, and Cereality, a Chicago- based company that coincidentally has cereal cafés in operation, threatened to sue for copyright infringement. Rader was nearing two years without a paycheck, as he concentrated on starting the business while completing his degree from NSU. But, he was able to apply what he learned in the business and management program directly toward The Cereal Bowl. “I found the classes very helpful, especially Business Law, which is a huge part of our business,” said Rader, who completed his studies at NSU last October. The Cereal Bowl opened on February 4, 2006, with Rader serving as president and CEO, Josh as vice president and chief financial officer, and Glassman as vice president and chief operat- ing officer. Josh, who continued with his job at a public accounting firm in Coral Gables while opening and running The Cereal Bowl, completed his master’s degree in accounting at NSU just days before The Cereal Bowl opened. As chief financial officer, he found his accounting education put to the test immediately. “I prepare our tax returns for the company,” Josh said. “We do our own cost analysis of our margins. We prepare our own financial statements on a monthly basis. What I learned has been very effec- tive for our business.” After the opening, a barrage of media exposure followed, with the Miami Herald doing a yearlong series on The Cereal Bowl as a start-up business, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 filming a segment, and Entrepreneur magazine penning a profile. With the exposure came hundreds of franchise inquiries, and by the end of the year, the company was turning a monthly profit. The quick-service restaurant offers more than 35 cold and hot cereals that can be combined with more than 40 different toppings and 6 varieties of milk. There are also parfaits, oatmeal smoothies, and ice cream. The store is furnished with couches, wireless Internet, and flat-screen televisions, designed to make The Cereal Bowl a hangout place. The restaurant is aimed at college students but is also marketed to a younger crowd, offering birthday parties and serving as a destination for summer camps. Now, with The Cereal Bowl more than two years old, the Rader twins and Glassman are expanding the company. Corporate headquarters were recently established in Miami, complete with a training classroom known as Cereal Bowl University. A company-owned store is set to open in Washington, D.C., near George- town University, and 17 franchise agreements have been formed. With the company growing rapidly, Rader continues to stay in touch with Nick Castaldo, a Huizenga School professor, who has vast experience in the restaurant business as the former presi- dent of Pollo Tropical and a current partner and president of Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza. Castaldo has served as an adviser for Rader, and he returned the favor by speaking to Castaldo’s class to share advice about starting a business. “It’s more important to be an entrepreneur because you have a concept you believe in and that you want to go with, not to be an entrepreneur because it sounds like something that might be successful,” Rader explained to the class. “It’s not nearly as much fun as it may seem, or as glamorous. There’s a lot of hard work.” Even as the hard work continues, Rader and Josh, now 26, remain committed to fulfilling their dreams with this company. “I don’t think we’ve run out of ideas for The Cereal Bowl,” said Rader. “There are so many fun ideas that we haven’t done. We still are very motivated to keep brainstorming this concept.” ■ alumni journal Kenneth and Josh Rader The Cereal Bowl 30 horizons By alan hancock ALAN HANCOCK IS NSU’S ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.