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February 2007 • Clifton Merchant
Gary Vega, Bill Cook’s partner in the Red Robin.
neer named David Shih. God puts people into your life for a reason, and David was put in mine to help. I hired him to be my teacher while building my other restaurants and teach me all the things I didn’t understand about building.” Next, it was Cook’s turn to succeed in Clifton.
Fly, Robin, Fly Eyeing property on Route 3 East (part of the Wellesley Inn) Cook and Vega sought to bring Fuddruckers to Clifton. But after a territory squabble with another franchisee, the partners switched to Red Robin, another family hamburger restaurant chain. “We opened ‘soft,’” says Cook. “For whatever reason, there’s a negative perception in New Jersey of hotel restaurants. So we put our noses to the grindstone and began handing out our ‘Bird Bucks’ at the Clifton Commons and other locations. Soon, people began to come and now the restaurant has become highly successful.” Cook’s Red Robin was even mentioned on the HBO hit, The Sopranos.
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Still, running his own business remained Cook’s dream. Along with his cousin Vega, a CPA for Hoffman LaRoche, he began exploring franchise opportunities in the food industry. “I knew,” Cook says, “if I took what I learned from Casey, we’d be successful.” However, finding the right opportunity would be tough. After looking into McDonald’s, Burger King, and Roy Rodgers, Cook and Vega decided to pursue a franchise with Fuddruckers, a hamburger chain originating in Texas. While the partners believed Fuddruckers would be successful in this area, getting a bank to commit to financing them proved difficult. Cook remembers driving to more than 50 banks with his business plan before the Farrington Bank in New Brunswick agreed to back them. He also put up nearly $200,000 of his own money, saved from years of work. “When you’re young,” he says, “that’s your ‘advantage time.’ You live at home and save money. The key is not to blow it.” But he almost did. While building his first Fuddruckers in Parsippany, his relationship with his general contactor soured, causing Cook to lose money. When the general contractor quit, he stepped in to complete the job… despite having no experience. “Becoming my own general contactor was probably the most difficult thing I ever did,” he says. “I remember driving my carpenters from Garfield to Parsippany each morning just so they’d keep working.” Cook and Vega’s first Fuddruckers became an immediate success and has since become one of the franchise’s top ten stores for the past decade. Purchasing the Wayne Fuddruckers was next, followed by building their Bridgewater Fuddruckers from the ground up. “While renovating Wayne,” Cook says, “I met an engi-
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