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A Man and His Muffin:
Interview with Steve Marks
By Carin Chea
While other 9-year-olds were inventing make-believe kingdoms on the playground, Steve Marks was actively envisioning his.
Less than a couple of decades later, that vision came to fruition. Marks, originally an accountant by trade and training, took a chance evolving into a multi-million-dollar empire. And, it all started with muffins.
In his book, The Muffin Man Chronicles, Steve Marks narrates how his empire began at a sheriff’s real estate auction and the brilliant idea to start a business that would be rooted in muffins.
Because, as certain as we are that death and taxes are inevitable, we will always need pastries, carbs, and comfort food. Whether his brilliance is innate or learned (or a clever combination of both), Marks has now unmasked and shared the journey toward his success in his book.
Tell us about your roots and how you got started in entrepreneurship.
I always wanted to start and own a business when I was a kid. One of my first ventures was selling cinnamon toothpicks as a 4th grader to other kids. Eventually they closed me down because the kids were using their lunch money to buy my toothpicks. I also had a door-to-door lemonade stand. I mowed lawns.
My next-door neighbor was a university professor at the University of Akron. He advised me to major in accounting, as you can go into any business with that degree.
My entrepreneurship started at 27 when my dad asked me to go with him to a sheriff’s real estate auction. There was a property that came up for a bid at 214 S. Main Street. I worked down the street, so I sort of knew the location. I got into a bidding war with this guy, and I ended up getting the property for $5000, which I didn’t have.
I remember leaving the courthouse and running down Main Street to see where my net worth was located, and it was a 5-story building in the middle of downtown. I used 2 credit card advances to pay for the building.
One of your first ventures was opening up a muffin shop. Why a muffin shop?
We [my business partner and I] were out in California at the Beverly Center. There was a place called the Muffin Oven in the middle of the mall and it was the busiest place in the entire mall. We thought: What is popular in California today will be popular in Akron tomorrow.
My business partner and I grew up together and it was a natural thing for us to go into business together. That first day, we had 2000 people come through our doors. We didn’t know what we were doing. He had a computer job and I was a CPA and we quit our jobs to become muffin men.
Six months into it, a restaurant owner came to us and wanted to buy our batter and take it back to his restaurant and bake muffins. We saw it as more of a threat than an opportunity. We made it really hard for him, but he jumped through all the hoops and kept coming back day after day. That’s when we got the idea to pivot into the wholesale muffin business.
At one point we were selling to 1500 McDonald’s throughout the country. We were also making proprietary and customized bakery products for national and regional companies.
While it started with muffins, we soon pivoted into brownies, cookies, granola and all different kinds of things.
When did you decide to write The Muffin Man Chronicles?
Every year I would write about situations that occurred during my business careers, mostly how I felt about the situation. I wrote every year. Over the course of 40 years, I had this data about 12 inches worth of materials sitting on my desk. I wanted to clear my desk so I put it in the form of a book and filled in the gaps and put some history behind it.
I don’t pretend I know all the answers, but I know the mistakes I’ve made. There were a lot of lessons learned.
I think it’s a natural thing to want to give back to people. It’s not important that my book makes money. I don’t want to pontificate to people about what I did. I basically tell stories that have purpose and are hopefully entertaining.
I tell a story of a board meeting in Vegas that was…interesting and involves a roulette wheel. I’ve met presidents, a secretary of state, all because of my business.
I’m sure writing your book was an experience filled with much revelation. What was one thing you learned while writing Muffin Man? What is one thing you’d change if you could go back in time?
I probably should’ve bought stock in Microsoft in 1986.
I was surprised how many times we were close to going out of business. There were 4 times where that almost happened, and we were a fairly large company. Is that indicative of most businesses? Probably if you don’t evolve to manage problems and pivot.
You have to have great problem-solving skills. I thought that as I got older, my problems would go away or diminish, but they didn’t. They just became bigger problems. I can’t think of anything I would’ve done differently.
In the book, I tell the story of how our roof blew off in a storm and our engine room was flooded. I wouldn’t have done something different in that situation, but I’m pretty proud of the decision-making we made. The positive of having a partner is that there’s someone checking your decisions as well.
What do you do now in your retirement?
I’m on several boards. We’ve invested in several companies through the years. There’s also the Akron Marathon, which I co-founded with my wife and help organize.
What message do you want to send across to your readers?
There are a lot of people who are contemplating getting into business and they don’t know what it’s like. I try to put them in my shoes and the traits necessary to be a successful entrepreneur.
A lot of people may have the skill but not the desire, and vice versa. I see a lot of people who want to own their own business but have things lacking.
There’s a certain skill set, a certain sense of urgency, a diligence, a certain arrogance that entrepreneurs have. Are these skills innate or learned? I think it’s a combination, but it’s subjective.
As an entrepreneur, whom do you look up to?
I get asked that a lot. I have several mentors. Joe Kanfer, CEO and chairman of the GOJO is one. They make a product called Purell. He’s a great mentor and a great person.
I would say there are several people in the community I look up to. I’ve taken bits and pieces of what they’ve done and the traits they possess that have helped me in life.
What advice would you give an entrepreneur these days?
You’re going to have a lot of roadblocks. It’s what you do when you hit those roadblocks that define your success.
Pick the right business. I didn’t have a passion for making muffins. I mean, it’s not like I had a “Kenner Easy Bake Oven” as a kid. I just wanted to get into business. But I’m glad I didn’t pick something like the fax machine business. I picked a business that was accessible.
We pivoted maybe 10 different times. Our first pivot was from retail to wholesale. Then we pivoted into different products. You’ve got to change all the time because you’re going to hit roadblocks. And, you need to know how to fail but also recover.
It sounds like an entrepreneur needs tremendous persistence.
Absolutely. When I made sales calls, I was going to call on someone forever. I wasn’t going to give up until I heard a clear no.
The book is more of a story than it is a lesson. I’m proud of it. When you put something together you never know how it’s going to end up.
I had a publisher who first demanded that I change my title to From Muffins to Millions. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t sell my soul. I refused to change it. This [writing a book] is another business. I am fortunate that I have four Fortune 500 CEOs who endorsed this book, but it’s so hard to break though.
For more information, please visit www.MuffinManChronicles.com.
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