SoDel Concepts' Kammerer leads by example

Restaurateur Scott Kammerer began his career elbow-deep in dirty dishwater.

Nearly two decades later, he is leading SoDel Concepts, one of the most successful hospitality companies in Delaware.

Along the way, Kammerer has faced extraordinary ups and downs, including battles with alcoholism and the sudden death of SoDel founder Matt Haley.

Kammerer credits the lessons he learned during both good and bad times with helping to forge him into the leader he is today.

That includes juggling his responsibilities as a father of three with serving as CEO and president of a $50 million company that currently operates nine Sussex County restaurants – along with a food truck, a catering business, a management company, a consulting firm, a charity and, oddly enough, a production house for a documentary films.

“What I’ve learned along the way is your success doesn’t necessarily hinge on your talent as much as your ability to work hard and persevere,” he said. “It’s not about perfection. It’s about the pursuit of greatness.”

That mantra helped Kammerer earn the leadership award for midsize companies in the 2016 Top Workplaces Survey, an honor based on anonymous ratings from his employees.

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SoDel Concepts employs roughly 180 workers year-round – a number that swells to more than 500 during the busy summer months.

Yet without Kammerer’s steady leadership, the entire operation could have come crashing down in early 2014 when Haley – the face of the company – was killed in a motorcycle accident in India.

“It was terrifying,” Kammerer said of losing his friend and mentor.

“I immediately had a moment of revelation where I realized there was no way I could replace Matt on my own,” he said. “But, I thought, maybe three or five or 100 of us might be able to step up and that’s exactly what they did. Honestly, I think spreading out that responsibility was the best thing we ever did for this company.”

Like Kammerer, most of SoDel’s managers and directors worked their way up from jobs as servers, bussers and dishwashers.

And the faith he and Haley put in them is the reason they were able to pull together, said Ronnie Burkle, one of SoDel’s three directors of operations.

“They’ve always been about growing their employees through constant teaching and learning,” he said. “We all have that mentality now of 100-percent team effort because that’s how you hold onto people and grow together.”

Kammerer says he first learned the value of hard work and team effort while attending high school in Edison, New Jersey, where he became the 1991 state heavyweight wrestling champion, eventually earning a spot in the Garden State’s Wrestling Hall of Fame.

“There’s something about the sacrifice, time and work ethic that’s required to do that,” he said. “And there’s a finality in wrestling. You either win or you lose.”

Some other lessons he learned while attending Alcoholics Anonymous, where he first met Haley. Today, Kammerer has more than 20 years of sobriety under his belt.

“The most valuable thing I took out of AA was that the group is more powerful than the individual,” he said. “The group can succeed beyond the wildest dreams of the individual.”

The staff at SoDel Concepts are being rewarded for that success, Kammerer said.

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The company pays all of its employees more than the state minimum wage of $8.25 an hour. Full-time employees get two 7-day vacations per year. General managers, chefs and directors typically work just five days a week – a schedule virtually unheard of in the coastal restaurant industry. And starting in November, all full-time employees will have an opportunity to enroll in a comprehensive medical plan that includes dental and vision coverage.

“I may be the boss now, but I never forgot what it’s like to scrub plates for minimum wage,” Kammerer said. “And to me, there is nothing better than building a group who wakes up every day and wants to stick together because they want to be a part of something that’s great.”

Contact business reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.