Chalk up another holiday season for Master Z's Dart & Pool Supply, but not for its founder, Ken Zettelmeier.
For the first time in nearly quarter century, the namesake is missing for the initial 'Z' tied to the billiard and recreation business at 1005 Spring City Drive, Waukesha, in a busy sales season.
Zettelmeier sold his business on Sept. 30 to Legends of the Field. Even today, he said the longevity of Master's Z still surprises him; he has no secrets of success to share, except working long and hard.
'We made a lot of mistakes along the way,' said Zettelmeier. 'We got lucky in a lot of ways.'
Taking a shot at it
Twenty-four years ago, Ken Zettelmeier's wife Tracy was six months pregnant and he had just been fired from his job.
Flat broke — save for $100 and a briefcase full of darts — Zettelmeier needed a plan for his soon-to-be family of three to survive.
That's when the idea to start Master Z's struck him like a dart hitting a bull's eye.
He recalled a friend who sold darts as a hobby and did quite well. 'I said I could do that and do way better than him,' he said.
And, besides, he had nothing to lose.
'I said it can't get any worse,' Zettelmeier, 49, said. 'Let's start a business.'
Nothing in Zettelmeier's past led him to believe he could be a businessman. He attended college in hopes of becoming a police officer but never did.
'I was the repo man for a while,' he recalled. 'I had a little experience in the bar business. But I had no business experience whatsoever.'
Pooling his efforts
Despite those odds, he started Master Z's. He wouldn't exactly call it a quick success story.
'It was tough for a long time,' he said. 'I had to have a second job for a time. My wife had a second job for a time.'
His schedule in the early days included working as a milkman from midnight to 10 a.m. and at Master Z's from 10:30 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. Then it was time for bed.
'I did that for about nine months,' he said.
One day, he had enough, and he told his wife, 'I'm going back to bed.'
That day, when he decided to commit to Master Z's, was a turning point: 'From that day forward, things started to take off.'
He opened a small pro shop, then a 14' x 30' retail space and, eventually, a larger location.
'We didn't even have enough merchandise to fill it,' he said.
Zettelmeier turned his attention, then, to buying, fixing and reselling pool tables — which he found out could be quite lucrative. 'Then I started selling brand new tables.'
Master Z's still sells darts, but pool tables and patio furniture are the store's real claim to fame, and 90 percent of sales is to consumers.
Retirement? Kind of
Despite Master Z's success, Zettelmeier promised himself that he would retire by age 50, although he will still be working — at Z's Fork Horners, a bar and restaurant he owns 'in the middle of nowhere.'
'I cook on Friday night,' he said. 'My wife's the hostess.'
It's their style to be engaged in their business. 'I worked the sales floor at Master Z's. We're hands-on owners.'
For the past year and a half, Zettelmeier said he worked both jobs and commuted between Waukesha and Gleason. While he won't miss that, he said he has 24 years of warm memories to cherish.
'There's nothing better than having a customer come in a buy a pool table, and the kids are there grinning ear-to-ear,' he said. 'A pool table for a family is like a magnet. I just love selling things to people that they're going to enjoy.'