Canton native follows simple message to success

When Anthony Ackil was a teenager in Canton, his mother headed back to school to study law. Her brother, Ackil’s Uncle Faris, took over the cooking for Ackil and his three brothers. Along with the simple and tasty meals, Uncle Faris repeatedly delivered a simple message: be good.

B.good owner Anthony Ackil

Ten years ago Ackil co-founded a local hamburger chain with his close friend Jon Olinto. They named it B.good.

When Ackil was 8 years old, his parents, Albert and Anne, moved their family to a home in Canton, where they still reside. Ackil attended Blue Hill Montessori School on Turnpike Street, St. John the Evangelist School for first grade, and the Hansen School for grades two through five. He also went to mass at St. Gerard’s.

“I have great memories of Canton,” he said. “I loved playing soccer. I played soccer in Canton until fifth grade. I played baseball.”

He also enjoyed football, playing in high school at Noble and Greenough School and later at Harvard University. But when he transferred to the Dexter School in Brookline from the Hansen School, he met Olinto and the two friends began planning their future.

“I wanted to own my own business,” Ackil said. “We always talked about opening our own business. We wanted to be our own bosses.”

Although he didn’t realize it at the time, the meals that Ackil’s Uncle Faris cooked influenced his present career choice.

“He used to make simple things,” he said, “burgers, a ziti casserole.”

Olinto’s parents worked and Olinto often joined Ackil and his brothers for dinner. “He was a big part of my life,” Ackil said of his uncle. “He was a crazy guy. He was brash. He always said what he thought. But he always cared about us. He really cared about us.”

He added that his uncle was a strong believer in being a real person, and he followed that same philosophy when he cooked for his nephews.

Ackil earned a degree in economics and government at Harvard and went on to work as a strategy consultant for Price Waterhouse Coopers. He and Olinto continued talking about going into business together and finally decided to take the risk.

“I was 27. I had lived with my parents and saved money,” he said. “We had no real debt, no real responsibility. The time was sort of right.”

Ackil and Olinto opened their first B.good on Dartmouth Street in Boston and found their first year as restaurateurs to be challenging. “It was a disaster,” Ackil said with a laugh.

But they managed to survive, and Ackil attributes their success to how they treated people. “We did a great job bonding with the customers,” he said. “It’s what we tell our staff: Build real relationships and be nice to everybody.”

Burgers, sandwiches, salads, sides, shakes and smoothies make up the menu at B.good, but Ackil said the restaurant is more than just a burger place.

“We try to really be on the cutting edge. We want to focus on healthy things,” he said. “People want to feel good about the things they are eating.”

B.good plans to add quinoa and kale vegetable bowls to its menu at the Legacy Place location in a few weeks.

B.good currently has 13 locations, including several in Boston, one in Connecticut, and one in Portland, Maine. They plan to open five company restaurants and five franchises in 2014, but Ackil still finds the time to come to Canton to visit his parents and to go to church. He is in the restaurants three to four times a week. There is a photo in each restaurant of his Uncle Faris, who passed away years ago. Before he died, he threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park and visited B.good restaurants, where customers asked him for his autograph.

“He would always say, ‘Be good,’” Ackil said.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Jan 16 2014. Filed under Business. Both comments and pings are currently closed.