CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Skip Wahl’s restaurant measures less than 1500 square feet and seats 36. Yet its kitchen satisfies more than 400 appetites a day and recently earned accolades as Small Business of the Year for the 8th Assembly district.

Celebrating the award, Assemblyman Ken Cooley treated his office staff and Chamber of Commerce members to lunch at the El Camino Avenue eaterie. In uniform tee-shirt, Wahl waited table with the same energy that has steered his business for more than 10 years. “I am here 70 hours a week,” reported the business owner. “There are no complaints from me. I believe that to succeed, that’s how you do it.”

Manteca-raised, Wahl slogged his way through CSUS business studies waiting and bartending for Chili’s Tex-Mex chain. At 32, he was a restaurant manager. “I met my wife when we were both working for Chili’s (Beth Wahl is now an elementary school principal), so I have our workplace romance to thank them for,” says the 51-year-old. “But you reach a time when you ask yourself if there’s more to life. Big corporations can be a grind. I needed flexibility to be involved in family life. I also wanted to do something in my neighborhood. My restaurant is a mile and a half from home.

“After 17 years at Chili’s, burgers and sandwiches were what I knew. I’ve tried to make mine a little more gourmet.” Skip’s mini beef Wellingtons are stuffed with mushroom duxelles and wrapped in puff pastry. Garlic Parmesan fries perfume the premises and much of the block. Salads dish the unexpected: one modified Caesar recipe is grilled. “It’s different from throwing a bunch of Romaine in a bowl with dressing.” Wahl considers. “Charring lettuce for 30 seconds produces quite a different flavor.”

His kitchen has backed any number of community fundraisers. Approves Assemblyman Cooley: “Small businesses play a vital role in revitalizing communities. Skip’s Kitchen makes a difference in people’s lives by supporting other small businesses, youth sports, schools, churches and local programs.”

Though the restaurant has also won numerous people’s choice polls, awards are not why Wahl is in business. “We try to make the lives of the people around us better,” considers the entrepreneur. “In turn, the community makes me, my family -- and the people working here – better people.”

Staff often includes Wahl’s two college-age kids.  In a traditionally-transient industry, the 6ft 4ins boss shares a personnel-retention secret: “You treat internal customers as well as you treat external customers,” he says. “There’s a tendency to value customers like gold and go back into the kitchen and criticize the people who serve them. Restaurant owners need to work just as hard at pleasing staff.”

Skip’s Kitchen is located at 4717 El Camino Avenue, Carmichael.