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ASU alumnus dips into Gilbert with fondue business

Everybody Loves Fondue restaurant owned by ASU alumnus as pictured in Gilbert, Arizona on Tuesday, April 19, 2016. 

Everybody Loves Fondue restaurant owned by ASU alumnus as pictured in Gilbert, Arizona on Tuesday, April 19, 2016. 


One ASU alumnus carries what he learned in his business courses to successfully own his own fondue eatery in Gilbert. 

Bill Dixon is a 1999 grad who opened his restaurant Everybody Loves Fondue in fall of 2014 with his wife, Céline. Since opening nearly two years ago, Dixon said ELF’s sales have almost tripled Dixon’s original sale goals.

As with every business, Dixon and his wife have had their share of successes as well as trials. When met with challenges, Dixon said he wished he could still call on his old textbooks to reference. However, now he uses both his wife's creativity and the content learned in class. 

“I was grateful for the things I listened to and frustrated with myself for the ones where I go ‘I know we went through this,'” Dixon said.

He said the most memorable classes he continues to rely on were supply chain management and business plan writing. He used the knowledge that he gained from those classes when he started ELF. The best advice Dixon received came from one of his professors: Have a good banker, a good lawyer and a good accountant.

“I’ve used that a lot and when I haven’t, it has bitten me in the butt,” Dixon said.

Dixon said he advises current ASU business students to be humble and teachable.

“As an entrepreneur you basically think you know everything," he said. "If you don’t learn the business plan and if you don’t learn the supply chain management and the financing, you’ll have to learn that again in real-life.”

As ELF continues to grow, Dixon said he continues to go back to his ASU roots. 

“A lot of what we talked about in school was market research and we’re lucky because we’ll just follow the melting pot,” Dixon said.

He said his original goal was to open 80 ELF restaurants, however, as the business continues to excel, Dixon has increased that goal to 1,000 stores.

“We know there is a demand for fondue and that the community will sustain it,” Dixon said. “The community has been great to us.”

For ELF’s first soft-opening, Dixon said he and his wife invited family and friends, not expecting a busy turn out, but to his surprise there was a line out the door for hours.

Brett Grebe, owner of neighboring restaurant Henhouse Cafe, said Dixon's business is first of its kind in Gilbert. He also said there were so many customers who bustled through the front door on opening day.

"The lines were long in anticipation of a fast serve fondue concept," Grebe said. "No one does what they do. It's Melting Pot quality but affordable."

For those business students who are interested in starting their own business, Céline Dixon said it's possible. 

“You’ll never feel like you know enough or are prepared enough but you'll figure it out as you go and you'll never regret not trying,” Céline said. 

Related links:

Student business wins online magazine contest

Innovative students at ASU create new app


Reach the reporter at Cecilya.Moreno@asu.edu or follow on Twitter @cecilyamoreno.


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