Zeke Flores Named to Crain's 40 Under 40 List

See the full video interview HERE.
ZEKE FLORES
Age: 36| CEO | Flying Retail | @FlyingRetail

“I CAN HEAR (SUE GIN) TELLING ME: 'ZEKE, IF YOU CAN'T DO IT BY NOW, YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO DO IT,' " THE CHICAGO LAWN NATIVE SAYS.

Zeke Flores began his career at Arthur Andersen and traveled the world with Sara Lee. But the DePaul University accounting grad's real education came from his mentor, Flying Food Group founder Sue Gin, who deftly navigated the spaces where business and government intersect. 

A visionary who spent three decades building a $436 million airport concessionary, Gin died this fall just as a sister company she had launched with Flores gained its footing. Operating as Flying Retail, the 40-employee, $7 million enterprise recently won contracts to manage four shops in O'Hare International Airport. 

Flores, the majority owner, now faces his biggest professional test as he bids for stores in the Houston and Dallas airports and beyond. He's also angling for a chunk of the roughly $300 million restaurant business now held by Bethesda, Md.-based HMS Host in O'Hare's three domestic terminals; those could go to bid in early 2015. “I can hear (Gin) telling me: 'Zeke, if you can't do it by now, you're never going to do it,' “ says the Chicago Lawn native, who attended St. Rita High School. 

Flores was a DePaul student when he met Gin. After his first venture, a condo development, lost money and sapped his savings, he sought her advice. He eventually became her understudy in the airport concessions industry, where the risks are lower and the potential for profits better.

Bonus Points

Up next: Flores and his wife are expecting their first child in April.

Place that makes me happy I’m a Chicagoan: “Airports.”

How I unwind: “I practice kendo.”

—Peter Frost

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