Running a restaurant requires daily prep work—slicing veggies, baking bread, washing dishes, ordering mass quantities of coffee. For Yellow Bird Café owners Stephanie (Fenton) ’99 and Ammon Perry ’09, however, the real groundwork began two years before they opened their location in midtown Harrisburg. The couple came up with a business plan, a timeline and marketing strategies. They scouted out locations. Visited cafes, bakeries and coffee shops. They read reviews. Researched kitchen equipment. Met with their accountant. Completed a food safety course. Tested recipes on family, friends and co-workers. Hosted parties. Created a Facebook page and promoted the café six months before it opened.
“We prayed a lot about it,” said Stephanie Perry, “And Ammon practiced baking bread like nobody’s business.
The Perrys prepped before they leapt—and that’s key. Funny enough, those who take calculated risks share many traits with those who take foolish ones. Both groups tend to be curious, open to new experiences and have lots of social connections. They also question how systems operate—“Isn’t there a better way?”—and are willing to take a stand.
“The big difference,” said Chuck Jantzi, professor of psychology at Messiah College, “is that people who are wise in their risk-taking are high on conscientiousness, which means they are more deliberate, less impulsive. They usually have a large plan before they do things. And they usually care deeply about the outcome.”
For the Perrys, working near their home was strategic. “One of the things we realized in our research of the area was that the café would fill a missing niche,” said Perry. “We spent time getting involved in the community we lived in, making connections, meeting influential people and forming friendships. It was a vital part of the café start-up going smoothly.”
While a leap of faith can look crazy to the outside world, for those who have done their background work, it’s not as foolish as it might appear. “Successful people have grit,” said Jantzi. “They have back-up plans, and they prepare for failure. Whereas, people who are foolish, they just rush in.”
— Anna Seip