The Lemerand brand

Gale Lemerand can’t help himself. When he drives down the road, he keeps his eye on the competition and his instincts locked in on opportunity. Spotting a national chain restaurant on State Road A1A, he says he knows it’s struggling and then quickly adds it would be a great site for a Houligan’s sports pub.

“What you want in this business,” he said, “is exposure to a main drag, parking and rooftops.”

Houligan’s is one of nearly 30 restaurants Lemerand either owns or co-owns, along with Stonewood, Peach Valley Cafe and Pie Five Pizza. Restaurants are the second business empire he’s built. The first, an insulation company he started at age 40, brought him more than $100 million when he sold it at 60.

He never went to college. His father owned a dump truck. His mother worked at a welding plant. From those blue collar beginnings in Michigan, Lemerand has become one of Volusia County’s most prominent businessmen and philanthropists.

“Gale has a brilliant mind in the simplest way,” said ICI Homes owner Mori Hosseini, who was Lemerand’s partner in the Plantation Bay development of north Volusia County before buying Lemerand’s stake in the project. “Common sense. That’s why he’s so successful. He’s very brilliant in his business thinking.”

Now 81, Lemerand is still worth more than $100 million, even after giving away $30 million or so to colleges and a long list of other causes. His name graces buildings at Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona State College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the University of Florida, where even the street that runs past the football stadium is named for him.

“I support education because I didn’t have a formal education,” he said.

Lemerand isn’t slowing down. In March, he decided to take the reins as CEO of Stonewood Holdings, the parent company for the Stonewood Grill & Tavern and Peach Valley Cafe chains, which he majority owns. He continues to routinely work 55-hour weeks.

“He knows what he wants and he’s going to do it,” said Rhonda Larabee, one of Lemerand’s daughters and a minority shareholder in Stonewood Holdings. “It’s probably the reason he is where he is today.”

Lorin Gale Lemerand was born in Escanaba, Michigan, a small town in the state’s upper peninsula, the middle of three children in a working-class family.

After high school he served in the Merchant Marines and then in the Air Force, serving in Korea as the Korean War was winding down. When he got back to the states, he discovered a knack for selling, and sold vacuum cleaners and Fuller brushes door-to-door before moving up to building materials and a management position in Chicago.

But the company downsized and wanted Lemerand to transfer to Phoenix. That wasn’t going to happen, so at age 40, he decided to form his own insulation company, agreeing to take on his former boss, Richard “Dick” Williams, as a minority partner.

Four years later, looking to expand Gale Industries beyond Illinois, Lemerand in 1978 began opening branch offices in Florida and decided to move his headquarters that year to Daytona Beach.

“I started a location in Port Orange and just liked the area so I decided to come here and build a house,” he recalled.

Lemerand in 1995 agreed to sell his company, which had grown to 100 locations in 23 states, to Masco following an aborted attempt to take Gale Industries public the previous year.

He continued to work for Masco five more years before parting ways with the company to pursue other interests.

Lemerand’s other interests included giving away lots of his money. His philanthropy started with a whisper in Chi Chi Rodriguez’s ear.

During a charity golfing event hosted by the legendary PGA golfer, Lemerand whispered that he was giving $500,000 cash to the Chi Chi Rodriquez Youth Foundation.

The golfer started crying tears of joy, Lemerand said.

A trip to a Gators football game in 1994 — his first college game — started his giving to UF. Big-time Gators booster Bill Lloyd, a then co-owner of Lloyd Buick-Cadillac in Daytona Beach, invited him along and introduced him to then-coach Steve Spurrier.

Lemerand said he was instantly hooked, joking that Lloyd is “the most expensive friend I ever made,” because it resulted in his donating millions of dollars over the years to the university.

Lemerand regularly attends Gators football and basketball games and has gotten to know the players and coaches. He still maintains a close friendship with former Gator football coach Urban Meyer, who invited him and fiancee Jill Simpkins to attend this year’s national championship game as his personal guests. Meyer’s Ohio State Buckeyes won.

“He calls me his lucky charm,” Lemerand said, noting that he was also Meyer’s personal guest at the two national championships he won with the Gators.

Locally, Lemerand also became a supporter of the Council on Aging, the Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, United Way and March of Dimes, in addition to higher educational institutions.

“Our community is indeed a better place because of Gale’s volunteer spirit, hard work, unselfish use of his time and energy and generosity,” said Joe Petrock, chairman of the Civic Foundation.

Lemerand got his start in the restaurant business in 1999 when he agreed to become the backer of Stonewood Holdings, which he co-founded with veteran industry executives Doug Sullivan, formerly with Outback, and Steve Papero, formerly with Darden.

Lemerand said his intention at the time was simply to invest in a single restaurant, the original Stonewood Grill & Tavern on S.R. A1A in Ormond Beach, run by Sullivan as CEO and Papero as president.

As Stonewood began expanding, Lemerand added to his restaurant holdings by becoming a 50/50 partner with Tim Curtis in Houligan’s, which has grown to become a chain of four family sports pubs, with construction starting soon on a fifth pub in front of Daytona Beach International Airport.

All told, Lemerand today is the owner or a significant partner in nearly 30 restaurants, with more on the way, including a Pie Five Pizza eatery under construction in Ormond Beach.

“I know how to make $5 million in the restaurant business,” Lemerand joked during a recent interview. “You start with $35 million.”

Lemerand, who knows many of the servers at his restaurants on a first-name basis, acknowledges that running restaurants “is a tough business.”

One reason, in his view, is that “most are under-capitalized,” adding that with the exception of the Houligan’s chain, where Curtis matches him in investing dollar for dollar, “I’ve been the bank” for his restaurants.

“The important thing about restaurants, or for any business,” he said, “is to surround yourself with great people, working shoulder to shoulder with them and paying them well for their efforts.”

Lemerand said, “I hate to lose,” and that he doesn’t like to make the same mistake twice, but added, with a chuckle, “I have been married and divorced four times so that should tell you something.”

While Lemerand has enjoyed tremendous successes, he also has had his share of failures.

Case in point: his decision early last year to abruptly close the SW Grill at Sunset Harbor restaurant under the Seabreeze Bridge after just 15 months in business following a lease dispute.

Hugh Upton, the property’s landlord, told The News-Journal upon learning of the closure that the move came as a shock, especially since he considered Lemerand a friend.

Jon Kaney, Lemerand’s attorney, responded at the time: “There’s friends and then there’s business.”

Upton couldn’t be reached for comment, but Lemerand said he still considers him a friend.

Curtis calls Lemerand “one of the most genuine and loyal people you could ever meet,” adding that he considers him a mentor and “best friend.”

“If he has an opinion, he’s going to voice it,” Curtis said. “We’ve had plenty of debates, but never an argument.”

Lemerand “gets a lot of joy in putting smiles on other people’s faces,” Curtis said, adding, “Every meeting starts with a joke.”

Phil Pharr, executive director of Gator Boosters Inc., the fundraising arm for the athletic programs at the University of Florida, said Lemerand has “an encyclopedia in his head for jokes,” adding that “They’re all good, clean, fun jokes.”

Simpkins, who was introduced to Lemerand nine years ago by mutual friends, said one of the things that attracted her was “his positive energy. He’s a lot of fun. He’s just a very positive person. ... He keeps everyone in an upbeat mood when you’re around him.

“He has a giant heart,” Simpkins added. “He can be tough in some business things, but he’s a very fun, playful person.”

Simpkins said Lemerand has expressed regrets about the toll his drive to succeed in business has taken over the years on his family and loved ones.

“I think he blames some of his relationships in the past on working hard and not focusing as much on his relationships as he could have,” she said.

Larabee, who said she didn’t spend much time with Lemerand when she was growing up, said “he’s made up for it” and that the two are now close.

“He is an excellent grandfather,” said Larabee, who has two teenage daughters, “going to their track meets and taking us on family vacations.”

She added, “He loves to be loved and loves to be needed.”

Lemerand has called Larabee his “heir apparent,” but Larabee said they haven’t really discussed it.

“We have and we haven’t,” she said, while adding she is confident he already has it figured out. “He always has a plan.”

Larabee added that Lemerand “pulled me into the business world to teach me” and frequently calls her to bounce ideas off her.

Lemerand said he has created a trust for his three children: Larabee; another daughter, Dawn Feeny, who lives in Ohio; and son Gary Lemerand, who lives in Jacksonville where he and a fellow former Gale Industries employee now run a business called G&T Construction Services. Gale Lemerand, who backed the company’s launch five years ago, retains a 10 percent stake.

In the meantime, Lemerand continues to guide his various business ventures with a passion.

His plans include continuing to grow his chain of Pie Five pizzerias in Florida and possibly expanding his Peach Valley chain to other states.

He also owns or is a significant shareholder in other businesses, including Southern Title, Allstar Building Materials and Command Medical Products.

Simpkins said of Lemerand, “He has a young soul. ... He’s not one who’s stuck in the same mode. He enjoys new experiences. I don’t know where he gets his energy.”

Lemerand acknowledges he is feeling some effects of aging, including macular degeneration in his left eye that forced him to give up his hobby of flying a few years ago.

For the most part, however, he said, “I feel great.” He regularly works out with a personal fitness trainer.

While he enjoys an occasional round of golf, Lemerand said he doesn’t see even semi-retirement in his future anytime soon. “I’d be too bored,” he said.

“I like the challenge of new things,” Lemerand added. “Hopefully, I can continue to be successful so I can give back more to church, charity and schools.”

Companies in which L. Gale Lemerand is either the owner or a significant stakeholder: — Stonewood Holdings, parent company for 12 Stonewood Grill & Tavern restaurants and 6 Peach Valley Cafes (owns 95 percent stake in the holding company) — Houligan’s Family Spirited Sports Grilles, 4 locations, with fifth location planned in Daytona Beach (50/50 partner) — Pie Five Pizza, 3 franchise locations in Florida, with fourth under construction in Ormond Beach (owner) — Ormond Wine Co., 1 location (50/50 partner) — Perkins Family Restaurants, 2 franchise locations on Florida’s west coast (owns 60 percent stake) — Southern Title (owns 49 percent stake) — Allstar Building Materials (minority partner) — Command Medical Products (minority partner) — G&T Construction Services (minority stakeholder, but with controlling vote)

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