Alan and Lois Elkin opened a small storefront operation in July 1964 with $10,000, selling and repairing photocopy machines. Alan went on sales calls while Lois ran the office, and the young couple faced eviction from their apartment – they had a month-old child, and kids weren?t allowed.
That same year, across town, Martin Resnick and his wife, Thalia, opened a catering facility called Eudowood Gardens with $44,000, including a small business loan from the government. The couple worked long hours, often arriving at work at 8:30 a.m. and not leaving until 2:30 a.m. the next morning.
On Thursday night, both families? hard work was recognized as the Elkins and Resnick were inducted into the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame. The Elkins have grown Advance Business Systems into a $37 million dollar company with 180 employees, and Resnick?s Martin?s Caterers can now simultaneously serve more than 20,000 people from seven high-end locations around Baltimore.
“I?ve heard the expression ?he?s a self-made man,?” Resnick said. “But quite frankly, I?ve never met one. In my case, I had a lot of help.”
Both Resnick and the Elkins lavished thanks on their families and employees, who they said supported them through the years.
“We knew that to be successful we would have to focus on success, without losing sight of our family, and what it meant to us,” Lois Elkin said.
Also honored Thursday was T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., who received the chamber?s New Directions Award. The company in October announced an expansion to its Owings Mills campus which will bring 1,400 new jobs to the area.
Alan Elkin stepped to the podium Thursday night with a bright white button reading “We?re #2” attached to his jacket–it?s the customer, he explained, that?s number one. In the early days of his company, he would give customers his home phone number on the back of his business card. Today, he said customers still get that number, and said that he doesn?t mind them using it.
“People ask me if I mind getting phone calls at 2 a.m.,” he said with a smile. “I say, no. The phone is on Lois?s side of the bed.”
