When All You Have Is Hope

I recently read When All You Have Is Hope. It's an autobiography by Second Cup co-founder Frank O'Dea. I have to say, it's quite the comeback story. From someone who was down and out to a man who beat immense odds to come out on top.

Mr. O'Dea's story began in the well-to-do neighbourhood of West Montreal. He was the son of a handsome, Irish-Canadian man and a Quebecois woman. His father was the manager of a paint factory; his mother a doting wife. He was emotionally reserved; she, as best can be described, tolerated her children. There wasn't a lot of emotional support for the four O'Dea children; Sean, Frank, Maureen and Bill. Frank O'Dea describes his childhood like "Growing up among strangers."

Frank looked up to his father even though he was emotionally distant. In his heart he knew his father cared for him. When Frank was thirteen his father included him in helping one of the local Conservative candidates in his bid to win a seat in the federal election.

On election night they celebrated the win. The adult reveling with alcohol, young Frank with a soda. As the night wore on Frank was approached by a visibly intoxicated campaign volunteer named, Lana. One thing led to another and she ended up sexually assaulting him. This was the first of four sexual assaults he faced as a young person. The others were by a police officer and two different priests.

Though he doesn't say it outright, this could have been the catalyst in his downward spiral of alcoholism. He started drinking as a young teen. At first it was an act of curiosity. Later, a way to "Provide a release from his unbearable loneliness."

This addiction destroyed his life. His grades began to suffer. Life at home understandably became even more intolerable. He stole money from his parents. He wrecked the family car a number of times after driving drunk. Though he miraculously escaped serious physical harm, his home life was a disaster.

After numerous attempts at giving young Frank a chance to redeem himself, his father finally had enough. He shipped him off to Toronto with a few dollars in hand and a promise of a job as a paint salesman when he arrived there. He was no longer welcome at home.

Frank was determined to prove his family wrong for kicking him out. And, for awhile, he was successful at what he did. He was a charming man and he managed to make quite a few sales. But, this success did not last long. For lurking in the shadows his demons awoke. He began drinking again and his world, once again, fell apart.

First he lost his job, then his car, and, finally, his apartment. He was homeless.

While this may have been of great concern to most people, Frank only had one thing on his mind - to panhandle $1.50. 99¢ for a bottle of cheap booze; 50¢ for a shared room in a flophouse. This is what all but consumed him while living on the mean streets of Toronto in the early 70s.

It was two days before Christmas, on December 23rd, 1971 that Frank's life turned. He had come to the realization that he had only two options left: Die or change. After saying, tomorrow I'll change, tomorrow I'll change, tomorrow I'll change, he finally took charge. He remembered a commercial he heard on the radio promoting a self help group for alcoholics.

After panhandling for a dime, he looked their number up and gave them a call. They invited him over to their second floor office on Yonge. That was the beginning of him turning over a new leaf in life.

Frank's volunteer support worker was, Joe. Joe helped Frank immensely. While he had never lived on the streets, Joe, had encountered the same struggles with alcoholism as Frank. His support was invaluable.

After staying sober for some time Joe helped Frank get a job selling industrial equipment to clean grime off buildings. Not long after he started dating a woman, Joanne, he met at the support group sessions. She was there in support of an uncle of hers. They married not long after.

The marriage didn't last long. Just six months. Though they cared deeply about one another, their differences were just too vast. She was from a family of the social elite; he was a recovering alcoholic. It just wasn't an ideal mix.

After the break up of his marriage, Frank continued his salesman job which he did well. He bought a car and, eventually, was able to afford an apartment of his own.

Frank met his business partner and Second Cup co-founder, Tom Culligan, while they were working together on the election campaign of Liberal candidate, Frank Philbrook. Frank was a saavy campaign strategist, while Tom was the finance committee chairman. Besides both having a Roman Catholic upbringing, they shared an even stronger connection - the same birthdate, June 14th, 1945.

After a successful election campaign in which Frank Philbrook upset Tory contender, Terry O'Connor, Frank and Tom considered their future. Would Frank return to his salesman job and Tom to his job managing shopping malls? Both had been successful at what they were doing, but they wanted more. One day Tom proposed they should go into business together.

Their first gig was selling mail order coin sorters. They sold these mostly to Roman Catholic churches across Canada. It did relatively well, but it wasn't raking in the big bucks.

Their big break came when Tom approached a husband and wife couple with the offer of expanding their coffee bean selling business from their current location at a kiosk in a Burlington mall to one in the Scarborough Town Centre. The 80 kilometre travel distance between the two malls didn't appeal to the couple so they turned it down. It was then Tom suggested to Frank, maybe they could operate it themselves.

While neither of them knew anything about coffee, Frank was a born salesman and, Tom, a retail business guru. They jumped in feet first.

Their new business still needed a name. They enlisted the help of a fellow named, Jack Burkholder, whom they met while working on the election campaign. He was a marketing whiz. One day while watching television, Jack's heard a beer commercial with the slogan, "The one beer to have when you're having more than one." He thought it was catchy. His wife had overheard him saying that and suggested calling the coffee bean business Second Cup.

At first Frank and Tom just sold dry coffee beans. One day, while sampling different flavors of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, Tom had the idea of giving customers cups of coffee to try. But, instead of giving it to them for free they would charge them.

At the beginning their kiosks didn't having running water. So they had to buy five-gallon containers of water from Canadian Tire. They did this for over a year. The problem was finally solved when they eventually moved into a larger, store-sized units.

This book is fairly long. So I'm going to skip a few chapters and sum things up neatly.

Tom and Frank were revolutionary in the world of selling high quality coffee. While it's commonplace nowadays, it was unheard of in the early 70s.

After ten years in business together in which they did extraordinarily well, they hit an impasse. They could solve their disagreements in management style. Frank decided to buy Tom out. He made him an offer, but as a gesture of goodwill, said that Tom could buy him out if he wanted. He just didn't think Tom would do it. But, he did. And, with that, Frank's dream of becoming sole owner of Second Cup was over.

Frank went on to head many other successful businesses and philanthropic endeavors over the next few decades. He married a second time to his current wife, Nancy. They have two daughters, Taylor and Morgan, together. He's a multi-millionaire who in May of 2004 walked up the red carpet at Rideau Hall and was declared an Officer of the Order of Canada.

All in all, light years away from his darkest days on streets of Toronto begging for spare change in order to lose himself in the haze of alcohol addiction. An amazing turn around if I don't say so myself.