“I Keep Working So I Can Keep Giving” · hose three snap-shot images tell you a lot about the...

22 l exchangemagazine.com l JULY/AUGUST 2006

He’s a detail-oriented manager who leaves

a conversation in mid-sentence to pick

up a piece of paper from the floor of his

hotel’s dining room.

He’s a business person who talks comfortably

about multi-million-dollar investments.

He’s a committed philanthropist who is much

honoured for his contributions to charitable

projects. continued on page 24

“I Keep Working So I Can Keep Giving”“I Keep Working So I Can Keep Giving”

Larry Martin has a head for business, and a heart for charity

BY PAUL KNOWLES

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exchangejulaug06_pgs22-48 6/19/06 1:39 PM Page 22

JULY/AUGUST 2006 l exchangemagazine.com l 23

MOVER & SHAKER

His simple credo is,

if you don’t make money,

you cannot give it away.

exchangejulaug06_pgs22-48 6/19/06 1:39 PM 3

Those three snap-shot images tellyou a lot about the unassuming,energetic, multi-tasking man

named Larry Martin. His official title isDirector of Hotel Operations of the BestWestern St. Jacobs Country Inn. In fact,he is a hands-on shareholder in a busi-ness that is owned by 22 local investors.

He’s proud of his hotel, and is quick to

point out that the Best Western St.Jacobs is one of the most highly-ratedhotels in the international chain. Hisestablishment has won the coveted

“Best of the Best Quality Award” threetimes – a tough challenge that demandsperfect Quality Assurance Inspectionscores. Only three Best Westerns (theother two in the U.S.) won the award in2006.

Martin also points out enthusiasticallythat “Best Western International hasselected our establishment for severalTV commercials.” Guests were able tosee a film shoot in action in late June.

Guests tend to be big fans of Martin’sInn – during our interview, a womanapproached him and asked if he workedat the hotel. He told her he was theinnkeeper. She said that she just had totell someone that “this is where I love tostay... the atmosphere, the ambience, itis all very friendly. The quality of yourrooms is fantastic.”

Martin could not stop smiling fromthat moment on.

The same group of local partners thatown the Best Western also own andoperate the Destination Inn in Waterloo,which is about to experience a majorupgrade and expansion. Larry Martin isclearly at the top of his game. He knowsthe pathway to success – prior to found-ing the hotel, Martin was President ofStone Crock Inc., working with the well-

known Milo Shantz to develop St. Jacobsinto the fantastically successful tourismsuccess story it has become.

But in the end, it seems, none of thatis the primary issue for Larry Martin. Hisreal number one goal is not to run thebest hotel in the chain, or to be part ofdeveloping the top tourist attraction inthe country. What really inspires Martinis the motivation that brought him theWaterloo-Wellington Philanthropist ofthe Year Award, two years ago.

His simple credo is, if you don’t makemoney, you cannot give it away. Heloves to give it away. He and his wife,Lynette, are involved in many charitableprojects, both as donors and throughpersonal involvement as fundraisingvolunteers. As well, the business is anactive supporter of many charitiesthrough its promotion programs. The listis almost infinite – when Martin starts tolist his causes, he runs out of breath andmemory before he runs out of agencies.A sampling: “My home church. Commu-nity Justice Initiatives. The MennoniteChurch and affiliated international agen-cies such as Mennonite Central Commit-tee, Mennonite Disaster Service, Men-nonite Economic Development Agency.Educational institutions including Con-


Larry Martin’s St. Jacobs Country Inn has been honoured as “The Best of the Best”.

His establishment has

won the coveted “Best

of the Best Quality

Award” three times – a

tough challenge that

demands perfection

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rad Grebel University College, RockwayMennonite Collegiate (I was a boardmember there for several terms and mywife Lynette is currently employedthere). The Mennonite Story at the Visi-tor Centre in St Jacobs. Hidden AcresMennonite Camp. Social service agen-cies such as the House of Friendship,Community Justice Initiatives, Menno-Homes (for affordable housing) as wellas health care including Parkwood Men-nonite Homes and the local hospitalsand national foundations. The Quiltbreast cancer project. Drayton Entertain-ment (which operates the new St. JacobsCountry Playhouse, next door to thehotel). Kidsability. The KW Philharmonic.Habitat for Humanity. And some person-al projects, helping people, that don’tinvolve tax receipts.”

That list is by no means inclusive;Martin says he supports 35-40 organiza-tions, but that is probably a conservativeestimate. He gives time as well as moneyto the causes he believes in, spearhead-ing fundraising drives, and also wearingout shoe leather, as the Kidney Founda-tion captain for the St. Jacobs area, coor-dinating the annual door to door appealfor a number of years.

Martin is also eager to spread thegospel of giving. He shares useful tips forcharitable giving: “An area I would liketo plug is the donation of appreciatedstock; Lynette and I have done that sev-eral times and have purchased stock forthe express purpose of future donation.The first time we did this was whenmany of the local insurance companiesdemutualized creating 100% capitalgains which we considered a windfalland opportunity for donation.”

Normal people – who might give to acharity or two from time to time – canget exhausted just talking to Martinabout his passion for giving.

What inspires a person to such featsof generosity? Larry Martin points to hisfamily, and his faith.

He grew up on a mixed general farmnear Elmira, attending a two-room pub-lic school in Yatton. He credits his “veryenergizing mother” and his father forsetting a pattern of commitment andcaring for their eleven children – Martinhas four sisters and six brothers.

He recalls a reasonable level of expec-tation in the home – “We were given anassignment and it was expected to bedone.” Those were not small assign-ments – he remembers being left in

charge of the farm, at age 14, when hisparents took holidays.

Martin says that his parents taught thechildren “generosity and giving.” Hisfolks paid the children for work on thefarm, “but always with the expectationthat some of it went in our church mis-sionary bank.”

His sense of personal obligation togive something back was heightenedwhen he became the first of his family

(he is in the middle of the siblings interms of age) to finish university, study-ing for one year at a Mennonite school inVirginia, and then returning to the Uni-versity of Guelph to take a degree inmicrobiology. At one point, he had con-sidered medical school, but he admitsthat he always had an interest in busi-ness. He recalls his first entrepreneurialeffort with great affection – he raisedchickens for a school project – “400 Red


Martin insists on continually improving the quality of his hotels. His goal? That customers will alwaysbelieve the hotels are new.

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Sussex chicks” – which brought a goodmark and “made a ton of money!”

When Martin recalls his personal his-tory, it is not difficult to understandwhere his dual passions for business andphilanthropy have their origins. Butwhatever the passion, it is still necessaryfor the rubber to meet the road, andLarry Martin is a master of excellent exe-cution.

He lives in St. Jacobs, a communitythat has become the quintessentialtourism success story. While not everylocal resident embraces that entrepre-neurial legacy, Martin is proud of whathas been accomplished there, as MiloShantz led the way, with Martin asShantz’s right-hand man until the mid-1990s.

That association started in 1976, whenShantz recruited Martin to manage theStone Crock, then a fledgling operationin the village. Martin admitted he didn’tknow the restaurant business – “Men-nonites didn’t do restaurants,” he sayswith a chuckle. But he realized that allbusinesses have a common credo –develop a product, market a product,provide good service. It worked.

So did Martin, often up to 90 hours aweek, which he admits may have beenunfair to Lynette and their sons, Taylorand Travis. “I really do have to recognizemy wife and family for allowing me to dowhat I was compelled to do.”

The Stone Crock was successful, andthe growth of St. Jacobs had begun. Mar-tin was involved in all of it. Businessesand attractions were founded; someworked, some were abandoned almostas soon as they started. But there weremany more hits than misses, and withina decade, St. Jacobs had changed from asleepy village to a tourism mecca.

Some people miss the sleepy village,but Martin says, “I’m proud of whatwe’ve achieved.” He counters the argu-ment that the village exploits the localOld Order Mennonites – “I’m Mennonite.From Day One we’ve been very sensitiveto the Old Order Mennonites. We devel-oped the Visitor Centre (Martin was thefirst volunteer manager, when it wascalled The Meeting Place), for peoplewith a genuine interest ... withoutinfringing on the privacy of Mennonitefamilies.”

“We revitalized a town that was

dying,” he says. “We have provided a lotof employment, especially to youngkids.” And Martin, ever simultaneouslymindful of business and social responsi-bility, believes that giving kids jobs solveslots of “social ills.”

Martin continues to be involved inlocal tourism promotion, through St.Jacobs Country, the most effective andcertainly the most consistent tourismmarketing brand in the region – “astrong, strong brand, today.”

He believes the rest of the region lagsin tourism promotion, and in effectivelymarketing the products available.

At one point, Martin headed all 13divisions of The Stone Crock Incorporat-ed. He was a major employee sharehold-er – which provided his stake when hemoved to the hotel business (at the sug-gestion of Milo Shantz). The move wasnot without emotion; Shantz’s enterpris-es were restructured, and Shantz tem-porarily assumed Martin’s position. Itwas time to move on.

But the move took Larry Martinstraight to even more success in busi-ness. “This [his hotel business] is themost successful venture I’ve ever been

MOVER & SHAKER



“The timing was right, the

location was right,” he says.

“We caught the wave.”

Larry Martin, who has been honoured as Philanthropist of the Year, is an enthusiastic proponent of “the gospel of giving.”

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involved in.” He started the planningprocess for St. Jacobs Country Inn late in1996; the hotel opened in 1998. It wasan immediate hit. “The timing was right,the location was right,” he says. “Wecaught the wave.”

Or maybe, he leads the wave. WhenBest Western created a list of more than adozen new upgrades for their hotels, Mar-tin’s Inn already offered all but one. Martinwants his guests to believe the hotel isnew. For example, only three years afterconstruction, the carpets and lobby furni-ture were replaced. There will be nothingshoddy about a Larry Martin operation.

His energy level is very high. “I’m anearly riser,” he says. He comes to workseven days a week; on a Sunday morn-ing, he walks through he hotel, checkingthe boiler room, making sure everythingis right... and then heads off to church.

“It’s a good business,” he says, admit-ting, “I’m maybe too much hands-on.”He is quick to share credit, though, point-ing out that he is not responsible forfront desk operations; that’s the respon-sibility of general manager Sharon Hales,whom he praises as “very strong.”

In founding the hotel company, Mar-tin worked closely with investor andhotelier Arnold B. Brown; Milo Shantz,through a family company, is also one ofthe 22 partners. On July 10, 1998, theBest Western St. Jacobs Country Innopened with 77 rooms. Today, there are119. The company also owns the Desti-nation Inn, and overall, Martin has beeninvolved in raising $10 million in invest-ment, all from local investors.

This year, he is raising another $6 mil-lion to double the size of the DestinationInn, to 104 rooms, a project that shouldbe completed in early 2007.

The company employs 56 people;about 15 more will be hired when theexpansion project is completed.

He brings his keen business sense tohis philanthropic activities. While onewould guess that Martin may oftenmake spontaneous donations, overallhis philosophy is: “You don’t have to giveby the millions; you just need to haveand execute a giving plan.”

And giving is the most important thing,to Larry Martin. He knows he will retiresome day – although he is only 56 – and“when I retire, I’ll probably get involvedwith some group that contributes to com-munity enhancement.” However, hewould rather keep working, because “thatallows me to be philanthropic. I keepworking so I can keep giving.”

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