Justin McAuley took a chance starting his own business instead of using his degree from the University to find steady employment. He made an even riskier move when he temporarily shut down his initial business to make it grow into something that would turn into a career as an entrepreneur.

He credited classes for energizing him to consider starting his own business, foodpatio.com.

“I guess you could say my entrepreneurship classes inspired the idea,” McAuley said. “They definitely showed me that starting my own business was a reasonable and possible goal.”

Foodpatio began as a online food ordering site, but has been reshaped and now uses its technology to develop Web sites for restaurants such as Wheat State Pizza.

McAuley, 2007 graduate, committed himself to the idea of going into business for himself and put his mind to work.

He realized that in a college town, such as Lawrence, a majority of the citizens spend a lot of time online and spend a lot of money eating out. These combined factors led to the formation of Foodpatio, where users place food orders, which restaurants receive and then deliver to the specified locations.

McAuley felt strongly that he had a lucrative idea, but before could get anywhere with turning an idea into a reality he needed to develop a functional and user friendly Web site.

Admitting that he knew next to nothing about designing a Web page, McAuley yielded to the experts for assistance.

He put an ad in the paper and online in search of a Web developer.

McAuley said he interviewed three people and selected two for the job.

He chose, Eric Loes, class of 2007 and Adam Doyle class of 2006, who were computer science majors at the University.

He praised the Web design team for making Foodpatio possible.

“I had a vision, but they were able to make it a reality,” McAuley said. “They are the heart of the company.”

With a Web site up and running, McAuley’s focus turned to selling restaurants on the idea of taking online orders.

His sales pitch was free advertising, and no risk for the restaurants.

Foodpatio received a small percentage of each order placed from the site, but restaurants did not owe Foodpatio anything other than what it brought in.

“Basically I don’t make my 10 cents until they make their 90 cents,” McAuley said.

The site began operation during the spring 2007, but McAuley, still a college student at the time, could not devote the same amount of time to growing his business as he does now.

When he graduated in May 2007 he planned advertisement campaigns, talked to potential investors, and continued tossing around ways to make Foodpatio more successful.

McAuley moved his business to Denver in the fall 2007. He said he thought Denver was a technology friendly location that would be good for his growing business.

Initially the business took off. In September 2007 foodpatio.com had 500 subscribers. That number has grown to 4,000 in less than one year. But McAuley was not finished making changes.

In order to grow his business McAuley needed more than a new location. He needed Foodpatio to provide a service that would benefit small restaurants.

He said he learned that 90 percent of new businesses fail. He did not want Foodpatio to join the statistics.

“I wanted to beat the odds, and I think you could say we’re doing that,” McAuley said.

In March 2008 McAuley made a bold business decision and decided to shut down Foodpatio temporarily in an effort to reconstruct the business.

The reconstruction process consisted of cutting a deal with Wheat State Pizza to develop Wheat State’s entire Web site. Foodpatio.com went from taking only Lawrence orders to handling every Wheat State Pizza online orders from all of the company’s 11 locations.

McAuley charges a Web development fee and then offers two payment plans for restaurants. Either Foodpatio takes a percentage of each order like it did originally or restaurants can pay a monthly fee for Foodpatio’s service.

McAuley targeted restaurants, like Wheat State, that want to compete with market giants, but do not have the resources to concentrate on online design and Internet technology.

McAuley’s new sales approach stresses that foodpatio.com will integrate its technology into an existing Web site or develop a Web site for a restaurant.

This development means that user can go to wheatstatepizza.com and Foodpatio powers the ordering system.

McAuley’s goal is to have foodpatio.com reconstructed by September. Users will still be able to place orders via foodpatio.com, but with 20 clients Foodpatio is now a company on the rise and is spreading through multiple states.

“We definitely have the ball rolling now,” McAuley said.

— Edited by Ramsey Cox