The sweet taste of success

When life gives you lemons, the saying goes, make lemonade. But what do you do when life throws you a curveball that rocks your world? If you're Marc Radow, you spice things up a bit.

Radow, a graduate of Incline Village High School and the University of Nevada, Reno, was living in Manhattan Beach, Calif., running the largest student tour operation in North America. The company, which he started when he was in Reno, did everything from educational tours to Europe to spring break trips to the beach.

Radow was flying high.

And then, terrorists launched the Sept.11 attacks. Radow was suddenly out of business just as he and his wife Kelley had a new baby.

Without skipping a beat, Radow joined his father, Jules, in launching RoxiSpice, a drinkware rimming system. Many years earlier, Jules Radow helped a local chef who developed the idea of rimming glasses with spice. While it was a great idea, the application didn't work. Father and son reignited the idea, adding their own twists (such as a Pop Rocks-style, mint-flavored spice for Mojitos) and expanding the product line into global distribution.

"It's a fun product," Radow says. "It has a lot of positive energy and that's one of the things that keeps me going. When I give a presentation, whether to a large group of buyers or a small restaurant, the response is so cool."

So cool, in fact, that Celebrity Cruises' brand new ship, the Equinox, will carry RoxiSpice in all its bars. "The trajectory of the business is taking off," Radow says with a smile.

"In food service the value proposition of the product works in any market. It's easy to understand why you'd implement the use of the product; there's an increase in beverage sales, lower cost of each pour and increase in return business," he says.

Making beverages from milkshakes to martinis more tasty, eye-catching and fun wasn't always Radow's plan, but the self-described serial entrepreneur always knew he wanted to launch his own business.

"Only the person who has walked through the fire, who has done it knows. You have to be addicted to 'I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.' You have to be addicted to the rush. The core function of creative innovation is that wild personality. But the core function of success is to embrace the day-to-day, the reality of making it happen," he explains.

Making it happen often means making mistakes. But he embraces mistakes as an invaluable learning tool.

He recounts a tale of what seemed to be certain failure. During a presentation of the RoxiSpice system at the MGM in Las Vegas, the spices wouldn't stick to the rim of the plastic glasses he'd been given. In response, RoxiSpice created a popular rimming syrup. "It was a series of mistakes that led to success," he says.

Success isn't something Radow isn't leaving to chance. He's big on taking responsibility for his actions and their outcomes.

"If it's going to be, it's up to me," is one of his favorite sayings. "If you apply that to everything you're going to do, you vastly improve the likelihood you will achieve the results you're looking for. Sure you land on your head sometimes, but next time you go in with your eyes wide open," he says.

The decision to move back to Reno was one he and Kelley, who was originally from Carson City, definitely made with their eyes open. The business could be run from anywhere, so despite growing up here it wasn't a given they'd bring the family back to the area. But after the birth of his second son, the couple realized they didn't want to raise their family in Southern California. Their families were still in northern Nevada, and a second look at the area reminded Radow of all he loved about it.

An avid skier since he was a kid, the attraction of the great outdoors tipped the scale.

"We do a lot of camping locally. When (my two oldest sons) have piano lessons I take them down the Galena Creek trail on the bikes and drop them off. My wife picks them up so they avoid the uphill climb. I figure you might as well postpone the uphill ride as long as you can. It'll come soon enough," he says.

With four kids now (another son and finally a daughter came after the move to Reno), Radow always connects with the family. "If I'm not here at work, I'm home with the family. We could fit in a one-bedroom apartment," he says, jokingly. "We just need to have a king-size bed. There's always one of them in there with us when we wake up."

Keeping things close has extended to the running of the business. Everything in RoxiSpice is made within a 10-mile radius of his office.

"There was a very conscious effort to get the products manufactured here," he says. For three reasons: One, why am I shipping all my effort over there? Two, to bring this into the community that impacts me the most, and three, to support local business."

The manufacturing base of northern Nevada made it possible for RoxiSpice to remain competitive while using local suppliers. Despite the struggling economy, Radow sees the silver lining. "I believe all our woes in Nevada will help us diversify away from gaming and mining. That pain will open new doors for us," he says. "Through failure comes new success if you let it come."

Spice man

Who: Marc Radow

What: Managing director, RoxiSpice

Family: Wife, Kelley, kids Adam 8, Gabriel 6, Jacob 4, Rachel 3.

He says: "You might as well postpone the uphill ride as long as you can. It'll come soon enough."