House of Plenty: The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Luby's Cafeterias

This is a great story about a truly amazing company......a sad commentary on the death of an American business ethic, and an interesting family history...very worth the read. I LOVED IT.

Fried fish with lots of tarter sauce, green beans, blue Jell-O, and chocolate milk. As a child that was my pick every Friday evening at Luby's. It rarely varied. Oh, I might give the red Jell-O a try, if I was feeling experimental. Friday at the Cafeteria was a family tradition, a treat for my working mom. All the servers on the line knew us. The lady dishing meat would give me a half-grin before she scooped up my fish without me having to ask. Everything was cozy at Luby's. We ran into neighbors there, my parents' coworkers, relatives. I still eat often at Luby's, here and especially when I'm on the road. It's dependable food, the workers are friendly, and besides, after all this time, I'm something of a Luby's expert. At least I thought I was, until I read "House of Plenty." The book begins in the late 1990s with the mysterious stabbing death of the Luby's CEO -- eventually ruled a suicide. But wait a minute, by stabbing? Before this titillating bit of information can be digested, the book flashes back to the turn of the 20th century, to a soft-spoken young man in Illinois, orphaned at an early age, who opens a lunch counter because the girl he loves is a scrumptious cook. The young man, Harry Luby, was a restless fellow, and soon moved his business to Missouri, then to Oklahoma, to Louisiana and California before finally, in the late 1920s, landing in Texas where he stayed, in Dallas for a while, then in Waco, Houston, the Valley, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio. Each time he moved, he left behind a successful cafeteria business to one of his many Luby cousins. In San Antonio he retired and handed over the company to his only son, Bob, who along with Bob's favorite cousin Charles Johnston, began six decades of phenomenal growth founded on a 50-year plan that included 40/60 profit splits with store managers, stock dividends to employees, hands-on quality control, and a policy of good citizenship to the communities where Luby's located through charitable giving and disaster relief. But the greed-driven 1990s arrived. The family lost control of the board of directors, and things began to deteriorate. A series of disastrous decisions made by the fancy new Harvard Business School CEO drove the company to near destruction. Which brings the story back to that weird stabbing suicide. In between are devilish twists and double-crosses, family feuds and big-money lawsuits that pit brother against sister, and cousin again cousin -- with a few famous Luby's recipes thrown in for good measure. Nicely paced and expertly written, Austin novelist Carol Dawson and Luby's heiress Carol Johnston, have created a book to pass around the Thanksgiving table. Just be sure that dear old aunt remembers to give it back once she's through.

HOUSE OF PLENTY: THE RISE, FALL, AND REVIVAL OF LUBY'S CAFETERIAS might at first glance seem a limited regional survey; but in fact it will reach to any interested in business history in general and small business and local history in particular. Luby's experienced phenomenal growth and became a favorite family restaurant during the post-World War II decades, evolving from the dream of a broken man to a cafeteria empire with revenues second only to McDonald's. This excellent survey reveals the specifics of the company's success and how it ultimately failed. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

A trip to Luby's cafeteria was always a highpoint in my young life growing up in Harlingen and San Antonio so, naturally, I raced out to buy "House of Plenty." I expected, mostly, just a simple trip down Memory Lane, but I got so much more. I was stunned and delighted to find out that there is a story as rich and dark as their chocolate pie behind the rise and fall and rebirth of Luby's. Just not as sweet in some spots. And Carol Dawson, working with inside information from Luby's heiress, Carol Johnston, captures every luscious bite of an absolutely delicious story!