A Des Moines entrepreneur has turned to his alma mater as he prepares to open a new restaurant in the city’s historic downtown district.

Richie Zawistowski received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Iowa in journalism and sports studies in 2011 and then went to work in the restaurant industry where he served as marketing director for a local chain of restaurants in Des Moines. He’s now developing a restaurant of his own, Culture, which he expects to open later this year across the street from Principal Park, home of the Iowa Cubs.

To help develop his marketing plan, he turned to one of his favorite teachers at UI, Tom Walsh, the marketing faculty member who taught Introduction to Marketing Strategy.

“He’s easily approachable as a teacher, he genuinely cared that we understood the material, and he’s great at taking the material in the textbook and applying it in a real life context,” Zawistowski says. “So I called him up and asked if I could pick his brain and get some insight on my plan.”

Walsh saw Zawistowski’s questions as a teaching opportunity for a marketing class he currently teaches in the Tippie College’s part-time M.B.A. program in Des Moines. One of the projects in his Marketing Management class involves putting together teams of M.B.A. student consultants to help small businesses around Central Iowa address their business challenges at no cost. Walsh’s students worked with 18 clients this year, providing a valuable service for the businesses while giving on the job experience to the students.

“This exercise gives our students an opportunity to put what they’ve learned in the classroom to use for an actual client, and learn the people skills that help communicate with clients,” says Walsh.

He says the work also benefits the state’s economy, providing entrepreneurs with a marketing plan to help build their business at a critical time in their development.

“A well-done marketing plan is something many of these businesses could not otherwise afford, but is vital to help them stay in business for the long run,” Walsh says.

Walsh put one of his student teams in touch with Zawistowski, who showed them his existing business and marketing plans and asked for their feedback.

“They’re M.B.A. students, so they’re more experienced and had more knowledge than I had, and I wanted a third party to look at my ideas,” he says. The students agreed that much of his plan was on the right track and had a few additional suggestions.

“It was a great experience, and their work was helpful,” he says. The restaurant, he adds, will specialize in food and drink from the state of Iowa, and focus on serving health-conscious food in a modern ambiance and atmosphere. Customers will place their orders using iPads. 

The restaurant, he says, “will be like a farmer’s market” and specialize in food and drink from Iowa.

Zawistowski says planning the restaurant and working with the students has been an incredible experience so far and he hopes to be open by late summer or early fall.

Other clients that worked with Walsh’s students this year include fitness studios The Factory Cross-fit in Ames and Madestrong and Cycle Down Dawg in West Des Moines; Prime Nutrition and The Oh Ball, BusinessSolver in West Des Moines; Firetrucker Brewery in Ankeny; Welding Training Solutions of Monroe; Greenwood Motor Sports of Indianola; Welding Training Solutions of Monroe; and  Wellmark, Meredith, and Luxor Limousines of Des Moines.