Fred Harvey (entrepreneur)

Frederick Henry Harvey was an entrepreneur who developed the Harvey House lunch rooms, restaurants, souvenir shops, and hotels, which served rail passengers on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, the Gulf Coast and Santa Fe Railway, the Kansas Pacific Railway, the St. LouisSan Francisco Railway, and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.

Fred Harvey was born to mixed Scottish and English parents, and immigrated into the United States from Liverpool, England in 1853 at the age of 17. He took a job in New York as a pot scrubber and busboy at Smith and McNells restaurant, a popular New York city restaurant. There he learned the business from the establishments quirky proprietors, Henry Smith and T. R. McNell. They taught him the importance of quality service, fresh ingredients and the handshake deal. Harvey quickly worked his way up to busboy, waiter and line cook. This early entry into the world of food service would have large impacts later in his life. He moved from New York to New Orleans aftermonths and survived a bout with yellow fever and then to St. Louis where he worked in a jewelry store. In 1856 he married Barbara Sarah Mattas, with whom he would have a total of six children.

Source: Wikipedia