Joe started his career in engineering, which he did full time for almost seven years. Becoming tired of the monotony of the field he was in, he contemplated going in to the coffee business (a favorite hobby).

He and a partner started a business known as The Coffee Plantation in 1989. Their first store was in downtown Tempe and included coffee roasting, retailing, espresso bar, baked goods, desserts, and meal service. This store grew to become the busiest coffee house in the U.S.. Joe and his business partner opened two more stores (Scottsdale Fashion Square and Biltmore Fashion Park) as well as a roasting plant for the stores and wholesale customers.

In 1993, they sold The Coffee Plantation to The Second Cup (Toronto). Working for the new company, Joe was in charge of stores design and real estate. By the time his employment contract was completed in 1995, he had helped lease and build 20 new stores in Arizona, California, and Texas.

After taking a year long sabbatical, Joe started working on his next venture, a barbecue restaurant called Joe’s Real BBQ (www.joesrealbbq.com). His role was to plan the concept, design, and build the restaurant. Knowing that operations was not what he was best at, Joe partnered with two operating partners to run the business. The BBQ opened in 1998 and has seen steady year over year growth. It is now one of the busiest restaurants in Gilbert and is diagonally across from the Liberty Market site.

In 1999, he began working on the development of the family farm into a mixed-use development, known as Agritopia (www.agritopia.com). The project includes residential, commercial, and urban agricultural components. As a part of this, he helped develop his family home into a mid-century modern “burger stand” called Joe’s Farm Grill (www.joesfarmgrill.com). Again, he teamed up with operating partners to run the restaurant. His ongoing role at both the Grill and BBQ is financial/concept oversight and special projects.

His expected role in Liberty Market will be in concept development, design, construction, and ongoing oversight of conformance to concept principles and financial results.