"Growing up in an entrepreneurial family was always interesting. My parents owned "Sunshine Restoration" and we grew up watching them clean up fire and water damage in and around the local West Palm Beach area. My father, Gary Bernard Glassie, ended up getting sick when I was young and the medical bills ended costing my family their business. We lost him to a different illness a few years later, but we always remembered the stories about how the "right value" was the key to success and how trying to figure out what that meant kept my parents up at night.

 

Dad always used to take me to this fantastic sub shop that was open on Northlake Boulevard. He would openly describe how your mouth would water the moment you walked in the door because it always smelled like the freshest bakery in the world. The perfect blend of flavors and spices made the ultimate roll which was filled out with freshly sliced Salami, Capicola, Ham, and Provolone Cheese. Outside of going to Publix to get the meat himself to make it his way, these were the only subs he'd go out of his way to buy.

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One day, the owner told him he was getting too old and felt like he needed to retire. Dad immediately jumped at the the idea and told the gentleman that he'd give him $100,000 for the business. Only catch Dad requested was the secret recipe for the bread had to be included. The owner tried to tell Dad that it was his family recipe and that he didn't want to see it commercialized. After attempting to negotiate a few times and failing to make a deal, Dad pulled out his offer to buy.

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I still remember the night Dad came home looking frustrated. I was six years old and could tell something was wrong, so I asked him what happened. He sat down, kind of shook his head, and said, “I tried to buy the sub shop today.” I didn’t really get what that meant, so I asked why he looked so upset. He told me the guy wouldn’t sell him the bread recipe. I remember asking, “Why does that matter?” And Dad said, “Because that recipe is the store. That’s why people come in. It’s what they talk about when they leave. Without the bread, there’s no real value.” He told me he wasn’t just offering money for the business—he was really trying to buy the recipe, because that’s where all the value was. That moment stuck with me, even at that age. It was one of the first times I really understood what Dad meant when he talked about value.

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The owner of the store ended up dying a few years later and he took the recipe with him. To my knowledge, it was never passed on and the store closed a few years later. He was so sure customers came in day after day because of the name at the top of the store.

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If you've noticed, I can't even name the store because I genuinely don't remember it 30 years later.

 

What I can tell you is that I will literally never forget why Value is so important and how it's the basis for any amazing business."