GREG CUTCHALL
COVER story RESTAURATEUR GREG CUTCHALL
hospitality PERSONIFIED CELEBRATING THE LEGACY OF THE LATE GREG CUTCHALL By the time Greg Cutchall was inducted into the Omaha Hospitality Hall of Fame in 2018 and named Omaha Restaurant Association’s Restaurateur of the Year in 2019, he had opened more than 120 restaurants and franchises since entering the sector as a Kentucky Fried Chicken manager in the 1970s. Cutchall Management Co., which he founded in 1989, currently owns and operates 44 restaurants in five states including JAMS American Grill, First Watch Daytime Cafe, Paradise Bakery, River City Star/Dam Bar & Grill, Mouth of the South and more. Cutchall and his wife, Molly, also co-founded the Omaha Design Center. By all counts, Cutchall was an extraordinary businessman. As they reflected on his life and legacy since his death from cancer on May 16 at the age of 69, his friends and family said Cutchall was also a remarkable person. “He truly had a life well lived, and a life completed. Every day that he was on this earth, he made a difference… he was truly an American success story,” Cutchall’s brother, Michael Cutchall, said. “He had an amazing capacity to honor and develop friendships. You might
have five close friends; Greg had 50 close friends. He [was] as close to his 50 as I am to my five, and the relationships he developed with each one of those people [was] different.” “From the day I met him he was polite, kind and energetic,” John Hoich of Hoich Enterprises said. “Greg was always humble to me, treated me with integrity, always made me feel an equal.” Hoich and Cutchall met in 1978. Hoich did residential and commercial landscaping work for Cutchall over the years, but the two men formed a lasting friendship early on. “I will never forget the memories of the last few years he’s come to my home on Timber Shores Lake in Valley; we would fish together often,” he said. “You couldn’t meet a more optimistic guy,” Rob Denning said. “Always a big smile. Always welcoming.” Denning and Cutchall met over 20 years ago, Denning said. A few years later he invited Cutchall to speak to his team at the bank he was working for at the time.
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