Mountain Hams owner has recipe for success

The first thing that strikes you when you step into Mountain Hams Cafe is how good the place smells. Not good like a flower shop smells, but good like grandma's kitchen.

Mountain Hams has held court at Westland Fair Mall, on the southeast corner of Charleston and Decatur boulevards, since 1984. About seven months ago, it opened a second location in Boca Park Shopping Center, located at Rampart and Charleston boulevards.

Most people assume it's a franchise, but the store is locally owned and operated by the Boschetto family.

The patriarch is John Boschetto, whose construction business, specializing in bringing hotels up to fire code standards, boomed after the MGM fire of 1980. He'd always longed to be in the restaurant business though and, in 1990, bought out Bruce Campbell, the originator of Mountain Hams.

Boschetto, who has other business interests, kept majority control but turned the day-to-day running of the shop over to his son, Bill, who was 22 at the time.

"I had no training, didn't know what to expect," Bill said with a laugh. "I guess you can say I was thrown into the fire."

Bill's early faux pas involved scheduling workers, timing orders and realizing he needed to delegate or risk burnout, but he learned quickly.

When the shopping center began its major overhaul, the shop was told it had to vacate its spot. Luckily, a free-standing building was available at the center and Mountain Hams made the move. The change forced the shop to close its doors for a few months, which caused Bill to wonder if his customers would ever come back. They did. The first day of reopening, 70 repeat customers came flocking in.

The new location was large enough to handle a cafe and that accounts for 50 percent of the store's business. It serves as many as 200 meals a day.

Bill, looking to the future, planned the kitchen flow to handle double that amount. For people who shy away from red meat, he expanded the menu to include tuna salad, turkey breast and vegetarian sandwiches. He also added delivery service.

The Boca Park location serves 80 to 120 meals a day.

Bill spends anywhere from 60 to 80 hours at the stores each week. A family man, he has three daughters, ages 6, 9, and 12, who help with small tasks like making boxes, shredding office papers, stocking small items. Bill is not above clearing tables but don't expect him to ring up orders.

"I have a tendency to screw up the computers," he said with a wince.

Mountain Hams sells about 180,000 pounds of meat each year with Christmas being its busiest season. Where it usually has an employee base of 25, that number swells to 60 for the holidays.

The hams come from the Midwest, are hung in smoke houses for 45 days and, once curing is complete, delivered to Las Vegas within 24 hours. The stores add the honey glazing using torches that sizzle the flavor deep into the meat. The glazing, by the way, is a recipe from Bill's grandmother. It's the secret, Bill said, behind the hams' popularity.

Northwest resident Jim Larsen buys a Mountain Ham every Christmas, a family tradition that spans 20 years. He tried another place one time. Just one time.

"The quality of the meat (brought me back)," he said. "You can't beat it."

But no one can anticipate the way every customer thinks.

When the store moved within the center, Bill painted the phone number across the new windows: 385-HAMS. A man came in and asked for a Virginia ham. He was told they didn't carry it. So he asked for a Black Forest ham. Didn't have that either. Exasperated, the man lost his cool.

"Then why does your sign say you have 385 kinds of hams?" he demanded.

Bill said Mountain Hams will consider expanding further once both locations double in business, about three years away. The Westland Fair location can be reached at 385-4267. The Boca Park store's number is 933-4262.


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