Marc Brooks is the CEO of Hyde Park Hospitality, a successful food and facilities service management company based in Chicago, IL. Marc learned about entrepreneurship early on from his late father and has taken those pearls and applied them to his own companies. He’s connected and respected by prominent figures in business, entertainment, politics, and professional sports including, Michael Jordan, Rahm Emmanuel, Bill Clinton, Common, and Barack Obama. His accomplishments, especially as a minority entrepreneur, has not come without its challenges, and I was excited for him to tell us about he's grindin'..
DC. – Describe your journey from where you first started as a young entrepreneur to where you are today.
MB – My journey as an entrepreneur began as
an adolescent watching my
late Father (Frank Brooks)
operate as a CEO. His
company, Brooks Foods,
were food suppliers to the
McDonald’s system back in
the early ‘90’s. Watching him
lead a small, minority-owned
company back then was an
invaluable experience.
Everything from how he
treated his employees, to
how he interacted with his
customers, to how he
communicated the
company’s vision, all were instrumental learning experiences that helped shape my interest in becoming an entrepreneur.
As a 2nd generation entrepreneur in the food industry, I take great pride in reflecting back on how his tutelage helped me become a CEO of my own business, Hyde Park Hospitality (HPH). Today, HPH has over 200 employees, and provides food and facilities service management, and has airport concession operations in New York/New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles.
DC. – Tell me about your first taste of success and your biggest disappointment that you experienced as an entrepreneur.
MB - My first taste of success came back with my first venture as a retail distributor in the wireless industry. Growing up in Chicago’s Hyde Park community, I developed a strong following that crossed all boundaries, ethnicities and income levels.
Marc Brooks