Heavenly mix

John and Marianne Beverstein say hard work really does pay off. The Beversteins, co-owners of Heavenly Ham at 212 E. Green Meadows Road, have found their niche in this college town, and people are taking note of their business’ success.

John, Marianne and their staff were chosen as the 2004 Restaurateur of the Year for the Columbia/mid-Missouri chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association. They were honored Jan. 16 at the 2004 Restaurateur of the Year awards and inauguration dinner.

“I was very humbled and excited,” John Beverstein said. “To be judged by your peers as Restaurateur of the Year is pretty neat.”

John Beverstein is a former president of the Columbia/mid-Missouri chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. The Beversteins also stay active in the community by donating their products to charitable organizations.

The Beversteins came to Columbia five years ago with no experience in the restaurant business. Before the move, John Beverstein worked in Young Harris, Ga., as the alumni director at Young Harris College, and Marianne Beverstein managed a preschool.

Then they stumbled upon the opportunity to open a Heavenly Ham franchise.

“It was either a leap of faith or a leap of fools,” Marianne Beverstein said. “Luckily, it turned out to be good.”

After working in a college town in Georgia, John Beverstein knew he wanted to continue working in a community surrounded by college events and sports.

Heavenly Ham is a member of the Tiger Restaurant Program, which partners with local businesses to donate food to the MU athletic program. The Beversteins show their support with posters of MU sports teams that hang on the walls of Heavenly Ham.

“We try to be good partners however we can,” John Beverstein said.

The restaurant specializes in fully cooked, hardwood-smoked, spiral-sliced, honey-spice glazed hams. But the menu consists of items other than just ham — something John Beverstein said many people don’t realize.

The menu includes turkey, smoked baby-back ribs and Omaha Steaks. Home-style side items are available frozen, as are desserts such as cheesecakes and home-style pies.

Heavenly Ham also maintains steady business from its box lunch sales. Each box lunch includes a custom-made sandwich, side item, cookie and beverage. John Beverstein and his employees deliver the lunches daily to customers throughout mid-Missouri.

Beverstein said the most important piece of equipment in his store is the fax machine. Companies and organizations fax in orders daily to have individual lunches available at offices and meetings.

He said one of his best accounts is the Missouri Heart Center, which has done business with Heavenly Ham since it opened five years ago.

Five days a week, the Beversteins prepare box lunches for the heart center so the patients undergoing procedures don’t have to send family members out to get lunch for everyone.

Marty Lile, a registered nurse at the heart center, was one of the people who nominated the Beversteins for the Restaurateur of the Year award.

“They are easy to work with, and they listen and respond to us whether it’s good or bad,” she said. “If there are ever any problems, they either fix it right then or they correct it the next day.”

Lile said the Beversteins do a great job of personalizing their product. If the center needs lunches early one day, the Beversteins arrive at the store early to make sure the heart center’s patients get their lunches, Lile said.

“They are not an office that manages from the desk. They are right there doing it themselves,” Lile said.

The Beversteins have made Heavenly Ham a family business. Marianne Beverstein works what John Beverstein calls the “school mom” shift, and their 16-year-old daughter, Jessica, works after school a few days a week. Fourteen-year-old Kimberly, their youngest daughter, will start working in the store within the next few years.

John Beverstein said he attributes much of his business’ success to the hard work of his employees.

“I tell people our employees don’t work for us, they work with us.”

John Beverstein said he hopes his business will continue to grow, possibly opening a second location someday.

“We wouldn’t be near where we are today without the great people working for us,” he said.