1. Jay Kimball
Owner of Wood’s Seafood
Mom’s Boyfriend
Jessica Kelliher
Nichols College
Business And Society
Mgmt. 100-08

2. Wood’s Seafood
• Wood’s Seafood is a small restaurant and fish market in
Plymouth Ma. It offers fresh fish, lobsters, and a variety of
fried seafood.
• Wood’s Seafood is an S-Corporation. Jay’s accountant and
attorney recommended the S-Corporation as a way to lower
the effective tax rate he would pay since the profits are taxed
at a lower rate for individuals rather than C-Corps that pay a
higher tax rate .
• Jay Kimball has owned Wood’s Seafood since August of 1989.

3. Background
• After graduating college Jay managed various bars and
restaurants before switching to the real estate market.
• As the economy began to decline, he struggled to find success
through real estate. He had Wood’s Seafood listed for sale so
he decided to purchase it to get out of the real estate
business.
• Jay Kimball was able to purchase Wood’s through mortgages
and loans.
 He was able to obtain a mortgage on the real estate for 70 % of the
purchase price
 The seller took a second mortgage for 10% of the purchase price.
 The bank provided an equipment loan for 20% of the purchase price.

4. Changes in Business
• Since Jay bought Wood’s seafood in 1989 there
have been many changes.
Before it was only opened 6 days a week and now it
open all week
There are now 55 more seats available for dining
The fish market has been enlarged and now offers a
bigger variety of fish
It now offers the shipping of food and catered
clambakes
It went from 12 employees to 31 employees
There are six times more sales than in 1989

5. Successes
• Jays biggest success was rebuilding the business. He took a
mediocre summer restaurant and turned it into a year-round
favorite.
• Wood’s Seafood was awarded the best seafood restaurant and
the best fish market in the metro south Boston area.
• The most rewarding thing for Jay is to see the happy and
satisfied customers who continue to come back and
recommend his restaurant to their friends.
• The biggest factor to Jay’s success is his active ownership. He
serves as the owner and the manager of the entire operation.

6. Challenges
• Low profit margins on restaurants
• Purchasing quality seafood at a good price for consumers
• Hiring quality employees who can get the job done
• Adjusting to seasonal slowdowns of sales while fixed costs
stay the same
• Making sure that the seafood is fresh every single day
• He overcame these challenges through trial and error. He had
to monitor everything on a daily basis to see what worked and
what didn't’t work.
• The fatal flaws of his type of business are that restaurants
have the biggest failure rate. Profit margins are also very low
which leaves little room for error.

7. Competition
• His biggest competition is Lobster Hut and Eastbay Grill
• He maintains his competitive advantage by:
 Having customer friendly employees
 Keeping prices lower than the competitions
 Advertising specials that catch the customers eye
 Having a good location right next to the Mayflower and Plymouth
Rock
• He keeps his customers satisfied by:
 Having quality food. A satisfied customer will always come back
 Having friendly and knowledgeable employees
 Keeping consistent hours of operation
 Having active ownership who know the customer base by name

8. Marketing/Employees
• He markets his business through word of mouth. He has
connections to:
 6 campgrounds and hotels
 Various charities
 300 members of his country club
• He will send them gift certificates, donate money to them, and give
them group discounts so that they will steer customers towards
Wood’s Seafood.
• When hiring new employees he looks for people who are:
 Friendly
 Knowledgeable
 Able to fit in with other employees
• He often hires people who had good grades in high school or who
are athletes because that shows that they are hard working and can
work together on a team.

9. The Future
• Jay’s short term goals are to survive the winter where sales
decease dramatically
• His long term goals are:
 To remodel the restaurant, which would include and addition
 The process takes about a year so he would start in the fall of 2013
 Expand the clambake business
 He would hire college kids to help so that he could offer clambakes
every weekend from memorial day to labor day which is not possible
now due to his hectic work schedule
• He eventually plans to retire and possibly hand the business
down to one of his daughters

10. What are advantages to owning Wood’s
Seafood compared to other businesses?
“The advantage for me is that I work three mile from my home
so my commute is only 5 minutes. If I managed the business the
right way, I was able to watch all three of my daughters high
school and college soccer games. I also found time for my self to
play golf on a regular basis. I get to work in shorts for most of
the year. No suit and tie and no long commute to Boston.”

11. Summary
• Jay had this advice for the members of this class:
“In a nutshell, America is built upon the premise of small
businesses being the fabric of the nation where many times
your dreams are realized by determination and hard work. If you
decide to go into business, whether you start your own or buy
an existing business, understand that hard work, good business
planning and location of your business are keys to success.”

12. What I learned
Owning your own business take A LOT of dedication and hard
work. If you don’t truly care about what you are doing then you
will never see any rewards. It takes a lot of time out of your day
but in the end it is worth it. You get to manage things however
you want and you never have to answer to anyone else.
From working for Jay I get to see how he is as boss. He cares so
much about his restaurant, his customers, and his employees.
He is devoted to his business and all the work that he puts in
shows through the quality of the product and the satisfaction of
the customers.