Isaac Tigrett - A Maverick Entrepreneur

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Case Details:

Case Code : LDEN034
Case Length : 09 Pages
Period : 1960-2004
Pub Date : 2005
Teaching Note : Available
Organization : Hard Rockcafe,
House of Blues
Industry : Entertainment
Countries : USA

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Please note:

This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.

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"All I did was put spirit and business together in that big mixing bowl and add love. I didn't care about anything but people. Just cherish them, look after them, and be sensitive to them and their lives."¹

- Isaac Tigrett.

Introduction

On June 14, 1971, Isaac Tigrett (Tigrett), and Peter Morton (Morton), started the first Hard Rock Café (HRC) restaurant in London's fashionable Mayfair district. The restaurant combined rock music, memorabilia related to rock 'n' roll² and American cuisine.

The cafe-music-museum concept became very popular and soon the restaurant opened units in different parts of the globe. HRC was the first theme restaurant chain in the world. In 1988, Tigrett exited from the HRC venture, and in 1992, started the House of Blues Entertainment Inc. (HOB). This was a company engaged in the dining and entertainment business.

HOB, which started its operations on Thanksgiving Day³ by feeding the homeless, encouraged racial and spiritual harmony, and brought the neglected Blues⁴ culture into the mainstream. Differences of opinion among Tigrett and the other HOB board members over operations resulted in Tigrett opting out of the venture in 1997. In the late 1990s, Tigrett launched The Spirit Channel, an enterprise offering services related to spirituality and health through the Internet, traditional media and physical locations. The venture failed to take off. In 2004, Tigrett launched yet another new venture, the Bozo Project, focusing on the restaurant business.

The common thread that ran through all Tigrett's entrepreneurial ventures was his respect for human values. While 'Love All, Serve All' was the guiding gospel at HRC, it was 'Help Ever Hurt Never' at HOB. Tigrett's commitment to upholding human values at the workplace resulted from the influence that his spiritual guide, Sri Sathya Sai Baba⁵, exerted on him.

Though many criticized Tigrett's entrepreneurial style, even his competitors appreciated the way he introduced spirituality into the workplace. "Isaac is a creative genius, and he has worked very hard to do what he has done,"⁶ said Brain Daneman, Executive Vice President and COO of the Motown Café.⁷

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1] Jack Hawley, "Reawakening the Spirit in Work: The Power of Dharmic Management," Berrett-Koehler Publishers, June 1, 1993.

2] Originated in the United States in the mid-1950s. rock music was initially referred to as rock 'n' roll. After 1964 it was called rock music.

3] Observed in the US in the last Thursday of November.

4] Considered the heart of jazz, the blues is a musical form now standardized as 12 bars, based on the tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords. The "blue notes" are the flatted third and seventh.

5] Sri Sathya Sai Baba is considered a Purna Avatar. Avatar means Incarnation; there are different kinds of Avatars like Amshavatar, Vibuthi Avatar, Mahatmya Avatar, Yuga Avatar, Lila Avatar and Purna Avatar. Purna means 'The full.' Purna Avatar means The Full Incarnation.

6] Milford Prewitt, "House of Blues," Nation's Restaurant News; May 22, 1995.

7] A theme based food and beverage outlet in Orlando, Florida, US.