Ross Hammer and Lauren Cavallo

A sensational and almost irresistible angle to use in presenting 31-year-old Ross Hammer and his 28-year-old fiancé, Lauren Cavallo would be to tell how winning $25,000.00 from a two-dollar bet on a fantasy football app allowed them to establish a modest business which quickly skyrocketed to a hospitality empire employing over 500 people. But crediting success to such a dream-come-true story of chance, albeit true, would fail to laud them for their vision, brilliance, and entrepreneurial savvy. 

Lauren and Ross invited me to sit with them on the second floor of their lavishly refurbished restaurant, Port Marina, the former Harbor View, which they purchased last spring. With arguably the most breathtaking view of Cape May and the harbor, they shared insights and actions that smartly nurtured a moment of fate into a playbook of ultimate success.

How did the two of you meet?

Lauren: His neighbor dated my brother, and they broke up. She called me one night and said, “Let’s go out tonight. I’ll message my neighbor,” and it was Ross.

Was it love at first sight?

Lauren: We mostly talked about business and mutual interests.

Ross: When we first met, I had just gotten out of a relationship, so it was a weird time for me. We hung out more and more. That was in 2015 and now we’re engaged to be married in November. 

Let’s talk about the business end of your relationship. 

Ross: That started right at the beginning. Lauren grew up in Vineland and her mom was a CPA, so Lauren always had a really good business sense. She went to Stockton to become a CPA and got her masters. My dad left when I was little and I was raised by my mom and my grandmother, so I learned how to grow up at a young age. The first real business we started was the food truck. 

That’s right. I remember when you had the food truck! 

Ross: It was crazy how we started that food truck. I bet two dollars and won $25,000. 

Tell me that story.

Ross: I had just met Lauren and was studying at Drexel University. I dropped out during my third year because I couldn’t afford to go there any longer. I reached out to my dad who worked out of Hong Kong. He told me to come and see him and I took a 16-hour flight from Newark; it was the cheapest flight I could get. I got there and sat in his apartment for four days. Back then, I only communicated with him through Skype. I messaged him and asked where he was, and he told me he was in Austria. He had told me to come to Hong Kong, but he never showed up. By the fourth day I just wanted to get out of there. My mom and grandmom were upset with me for dropping out of college and were telling me I’d be the biggest failure in the family without a college education. I was at rock bottom. 

I was in the airport on my way home and saw a book called Rich Dad Poor Dad. I bought it, read the entire book on the way home and became so motivated. At the time, my grandmom was selling Filipino food out of her kitchen in Cape May. I thought if people are buying that, why not sell it out of a food truck? I went to the SBA and applied for a $25,000. loan. I explained to them that I wasn’t a chef, but my grandmom was coming to Philadelphia to help me. The SBA basically told me I was crazy for trying to do this. 

Lauren: We were even selling candles at his grandmom’s farm stand. 

Ross: So, Lauren and I were trying to figure it all out. I had even asked Lauren’s mom to help me pay my rent at the time, which was embarrassing. I wanted to show her I could be a successful businessman and had to ask her for help, and she helped me pay rent a few times. About two months after applying for the loan, I cashed in all my change. I had $56 in change and deposited $10 in my FanDuel [a fantasy football betting app] account. I bet two dollars on a football team and won $25,000; the exact amount I had asked SBA for to start a food truck! My grandmom and I were crying! We were so happy! 

Did the success of the food truck lead you directly into the restaurant field or were there other business ventures first? 

Ross: In Vineland, Lauren’s grandfather bought tax liens. He foreclosed on this one home after four years and offered it to us for $35,000. About that time, I sold the food truck. We looked at the house and were able to buy it. It was appraised for $135,000, which means we were able to borrow off that to buy the next house. Cumberland County was the leading county in foreclosures. I thought this would be a good opportunity to get money and people back into Vineland. Ultimately, we found banks that were not only helping us purchase more homes but lending us the money to fix them up. The first year we did like five homes. The second year we did about 15 homes, and by the third year we were buying one house each week. Then we started selling those properties when the market was booming. It had a huge impact on Vineland and people began copying what we did.

After your success in Vineland, you purchased and fixed up some Cape May properties. Did you run into any opposition? 

Ross: Our first Cape May property was on Lafayette Street, which we just sold two weeks ago. At our first HPC meeting we began talking about what we wanted to do to the house, including vinyl cedar shake siding. The one guy on HPC pulls out the HPC book, holds it up and says, “Did you even take a second to read this book?” He totally ripped us apart. I should have studied more. At the time I really didn’t understand what HPC did or required. Now I realize that HPC and their efforts are one of the best things that have ever happened to Cape May.  I’m so glad people can’t just go in and do to historic properties what I thought I was doing. Ultimately, we did what they required. We’ve since done work on key contributing historic buildings in Cape May. 

Zest is your corporate name, correct?

Ross: Zest Restaurant Group. We’re the owners. The name came from when we were in Charleston at the Dewberry Hotel with friends and were relaxing at the top level which is called the Citrus Club. We were telling our friends we were starting a restaurant group and since we were enjoying Citrus Club, they suggested Zest.

Lauren: It sounds fresh and up-and-coming. 

What businesses and properties does Zest have? 

Ross: Port Marina, Taco Caballito, and the Fish House at the Point. There’s also a subdivision of Zest that came from us asking the question of how we could bring a better product to our customers. So, we decided to raise our own food and grow our own vegetables. Whatever we were serving, we wanted to supplement. We also raise cattle, pigs, and chickens. The cattle are on a 160-acre farm we have in Woodstown. Here in Town Bank, we have a majority of our chickens. 

Lauren: By next month most of our berries will be in season and you’ll see those used in many of our specialty cocktails. And we use our own honey in many of the drinks too. We have a lot of bee hives.

You also own Buttonwood Boutique Hotel in West Cape May. Is that also part of Zest?

Lauren: Buttonwood isn’t tied into Zest, but it is tied into our brand. And that goes for our Airbnb properties too. 

Of all your business entities, do either of you have a pet project?

Ross: It’s always the next one! 

In just a few years, I’ve seen your Zest businesses grow to the point of now being in league with some of the town’s biggest enterprises like Cape Resorts. What is your next project? 

Lauren: Well, we want to slow down a bit only because we are getting married in November and want to have a nice honeymoon next year. We have ideas for the next project but can’t really say anything at the moment. 

Ross: One neat idea is to have a charter boat here that takes people around out of the marina. Like a nice wooden Italian boat. We actually have a boat picked out and we’re going to try and do that.

That sounds so elegant! I have no doubt that will happen! Can you whet our readers’ appetite with one more project in the works? 

Lauren: There is one thing, but it’s only been talked about.

Ross: We can say this: it is something that would positively affect a lot of people’s lives. 

Lauren: We can’t give it away right now, but it would have a huge impact on Cape May.

When putting money and imagination into these business projects, how do you know you are making successful decisions?

Ross: Because we create things that are the types of places we would want to go to. We create what we love and know that others will also love it. 

How would you like to see Cape May in 10 to 15 years and what part will you play in that? 

Lauren: I’d like to see younger people have success in establishing themselves in Cape May but maintaining its historic character. 

Ross: Hopefully we are already playing a part in bringing younger people to Cape May with Taco Caballito. It’s very family friendly and people are very excited about it in the off season. We have over 500 employees in our restaurant group and most of those are in their 20s and 30s. I would love to see younger families moving here and having Cape May as their primary home, not just their vacation home. What will be a big factor in the next few years is investing in the school system. That is a cause and a future we are very interested in. 

Would you say that it’s part of the Zest brand to create a bright future for our community through your good fortune and vision? 

Ross: “Be a dreamer” was always our slogan for the brand.

Lauren: At the end of the day, we want to positively affect as many people’s lives as we can.