Jeno Paulucci of Northeastern Minnesota and Florida, named the 2002 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year among many other awards, passed away at the age of 93 on Thanksgiving. He is known for creating some of America's favorite food brands including the Chun King Chinese food line (sold to RJ Reynolds in 1966 for $63MM), Jeno's Pizza Rolls (sold to Pillsbury in 1986 for $135MM; now "Totino's" Pizza Rolls, the #1 selling hot snack in America), Michelina's frozen foods, for founding the community of Heathrow, FL and for numerous charitable giving accomplishments.
He was a man who had fierce tenacity to achieve his goals: During an extremely important meeting with a buyer from a popular grocery chain early in his business ownership career, upon opening the can of Chinese vegetables which the buyer was going to be tasting, Mr. Paulucci was shocked to see that it had a dead grasshopper in it; he quickly ate the grasshopper with some vegetables without the buyer noticing and was able to get the item into the grocery chain. As a result of this episode his autobiography was titled "Sometimes You Have to Eat the Grasshopper."
Some notable quotes which were only recently published ...
On single-mindedness to reach goals:
"I always felt when I took on a company or a project for the common good, I guess I didn't have time to go around kissing babies, because I had to do the job. If you got in the way you got rolled over: I don't care about what others think so much as the end product."
On "making it":
"If you can't find a living one way, find a living another way. Have a certain amount of ingenuity and entrepreneurship."
On college students entering the workforce and entrepreneurship:
"Whatever job they get they will have to work harder than hell at it. Not working a 40-hour week, but giving the employer everything they can. If you're going into your own career, work six or seven days a week. Give everything you've got. It's hard work."
He was a man who had fierce tenacity to achieve his goals: During an extremely important meeting with a buyer from a popular grocery chain early in his business ownership career, upon opening the can of Chinese vegetables which the buyer was going to be tasting, Mr. Paulucci was shocked to see that it had a dead grasshopper in it; he quickly ate the grasshopper with some vegetables without the buyer noticing and was able to get the item into the grocery chain. As a result of this episode his autobiography was titled "Sometimes You Have to Eat the Grasshopper."
Some notable quotes which were only recently published ...
On single-mindedness to reach goals:
"I always felt when I took on a company or a project for the common good, I guess I didn't have time to go around kissing babies, because I had to do the job. If you got in the way you got rolled over: I don't care about what others think so much as the end product."
On "making it":
"If you can't find a living one way, find a living another way. Have a certain amount of ingenuity and entrepreneurship."
On college students entering the workforce and entrepreneurship:
"Whatever job they get they will have to work harder than hell at it. Not working a 40-hour week, but giving the employer everything they can. If you're going into your own career, work six or seven days a week. Give everything you've got. It's hard work."
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