GoKawiilAlex Smith convinced Häagen-Dazs to plant a flag in Baltimore before anyone believed in it. Two decades later, he’s still proving people wrong.
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Key Takeaways He saw an opportunity in Baltimore’s Harbor East long before it became a destination neighborhood.
Häagen-Dazs was skeptical of opening a new location in a colder climate, but they were impressed by Smith’s tenacious business mindset.
Smith shares how he uses lacrosse principles to run his nearly 60-restaurant group.
When Alex Smith first pitched Häagen-Dazs on opening in Harbor East, the waterfront neighborhood in Baltimore was mostly dirt.
No Four Seasons. No luxury towers. No nationally recognized restaurant group. Just construction sites, a movie theater going up nearby and a 20-year-old Smith convinced the neighborhood could be something big.
Häagen-Dazs usually focused on warm-weather markets like Florida and Texas. Baltimore was a harder sell.
“They were impressed that I was a hustler, a young kid and hungry to be successful,” Smith says.
The gamble worked.
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