Dave Johnson Named "Newsmaker" By the Kansas City Business Journal

Chicken N Pickle owner, Dave Johnson named 2019 Newsmaker by The Kansas City Business Journal

Newsmaker: Chicken N Pickle founder, a business junkie, knows how to 'set my teeth'

By Leslie Collins – Staff Writer, Kansas City Business Journal

Apr 17, 2020, 6:02am EDT

Dave Johnson is a self-described business junkie who thrives on continuous improvement.

“I can’t imagine selling everything ... and just managing my own money in an ivory tower somewhere,” he said. 

The serial entrepreneur is involved in three businesses: He founded restaurant/entertainment venue Chicken N Pickle as well as Maxus Properties Inc., now known as Maxus REIT. He also is the controlling shareholder of First Missouri Bank. 

“Maybe to a fault, in all the businesses I am in, I look for bad things and how do you make them better?” Johnson said.

It’s a lesson he learned from mentor Al Hagemann, who previously led the tax division at one of the “Big Five” accounting firms, Arthur Andersen & Co. Clients aren’t impressed with a list of problems — they also want solutions. 

“So many people in the world stop when they find the problem, and they think they’ve done something, but they haven’t,” said Johnson, who previously was a senior tax manager at Arthur Andersen. 

Read the full article HERE.