DALLAS — If there is a recipe for success, Dallas restaurateur Bob Sambol hopes it is one he can share again and again with Dallas youth who might otherwise think their own prosperity is as out of reach as a proverbial silver spoon.
That's why, along with Mark Jones of Bonton Farms, he came up with an idea.
On Thursday night, in what he hopes is the first of many, Sambol hosted a "Young Man's Dinner" at Bob's Steak & Chop House in Oak Lawn. Celebrating 31 years of his own success this week, he decided he wanted another avenue to give back.
Four young men, all interns at the Mark Cuban Heroes Center, joined Sambol and Jones for a four-course meal. But the meal, and understanding table etiquette, wasn't the primary lesson at play. They wanted to use the allure of fine-dining, and conversation across a table of top-shelf food, to start a mentorship program: Sharing ideas and recipes from their own careers to motivate the young men in their own quests for personal and professional success.
"Do that to kind of help them understand why this is a good thing," Sambol said of the dining experience. "And maybe that will trigger in their brain where they go, you know what, that was really nice. What do I have to do to get back there?"
Jones shared that small decisions in your life can lead to big changes. And what you experience, you come to expect.
So, they would like these young men, and the additional youth they mentor in the future, to expect success and understand some of the strategies to get there.
"We believe that it's life-changing, just over a meal," Jones said. "Because everybody needs footprints. You gotta have a guide."
Guidance appreciated by Arlington "Ollie" Jones III, already a clothing entrepreneur at the age of 19.
"I think the main thing is creating daily habits to get to where you want to be," Ollie Jones said. "And this is a great group of people to be around to get those habits."
"There are some things on the menu that I can't even pronounce," said Jordan Lindsay, a junior studying journalism at UNT. "But just for me to be here and actually get the kind of mentorship is something very valuable for me."
Sambol and Mark Jones told WFAA this mentorship meal will be the first of many, and they hope to expand the mentorship program to as many young men as possible. They also hope to recruit additional restaurateurs willing to join the effort.
The four young men who dined at the restaurant with Sambol and Jones Thursday night received their personal cell phone numbers.
"So now, they have another older person that's willing to help them," Sambol said. "Help them be a better person and dream about a better way of life."
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