Employees at the heart of Rooster’s success story
Working together with family members has been one of the joys for Lowell Cox. (Photo by Preslie Cox)
“I got an opportunity in 1970 to buy Leonard’s Meat Market — the land, building and equipment — for $25,000. I was 29 years old. And we had one of the most successful meat markets in the area. We were very lucky. Things worked out tremendously well. Then we decided we wanted a place to sell burgers and steaks. So in 1977 we bought Rooster’s, and it took off. We worked it. When you own a meat market and a restaurant, you work like the devil. But I always got up in the morning wanting to get after it. My wife was the same way. We enjoyed it. We wanted it. We were willing to put in the long hours.
“Through the years, our biggest asset, our most important asset, the thing that has helped us more than anything in the world, has been good help. We’ve been extremely lucky. We had one woman who worked for us 34 years. We’ve had several people work for us 20 years, 25 years. Luck has a lot to do with it when you interview someone. I would go with my gut feeling as much as anything. Oh, I made a few mistakes along the way. But I was fortunate enough to hire a lot of good people who helped us make Rooster’s a success.
“All of our sons worked here. They grew up in it. And some of our grandchildren also worked here. That may be one important reason why we’ve had such good employees. We had so many family members scattered in with everybody else. Working together with family is one of the best things that ever happened to us.”
— Lowell Cox
While Lowell and his wife, Freda, no longer oversee the daily operations of Rooster’s Steakhouse in Baytown, they still show up to work every day. However, they are considering “hanging it up” in January, leaving son Dell to continue running the show with help from his brother, Terry. “But if someone needs time off or something else happens, we’re just a phone call away.”
(Note: Lowell Cox passed away on Nov. 5, 2018)
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