Chef finds redemption in Runcible Spoon

Matt O’Neill’s description of the attributes he found necessary to turn around business at the Runcible Spoon sound a lot like qualities that have led him through life.

“You have to be good at the rebound, (there are) a lot of dips and starts and false starts,” he explained, “When things are looking pretty bad, you need the kind of disposition where you’re never easily turned away.”

As the current owner of the Runcible Spoon and co-owner of the Bloomington Cooking School, O’Neill has weathered a lot of ups and downs in his own life.

He began his career as a chef with $70 in his pocket, then worked in several gourmet restaurants, and eventually became innkeeper and chef at the Walden Inn, located in Greencastle, Ind.

In 2000, he retired and moved to Bloomington as a self-made millionaire, having become rich quick through investments in technology stock.

But just as quickly as the money had come, it was gone. O’Neill lost over six million dollars in the 2001 crash.

“I felt invincible,” he said. “I had made all of this on Wall Street. I thought I was a genius. It was in the millions of dollars that disappeared in the crash. To stop myself from going crazy I took a job at a grocery store at $11 an hour.”

From millionaire to hourly wage in the blink of the eye, O’Neill was forced to start all over again.

“It took all of my skills and experience since I was 15 to come back to a lifestyle that I appreciate even more than before, even though it’s not as glitzy,” he said.

O’Neill was friendly with the owner of the Runcible Spoon and knew he was looking to sell the business.

“He told me he was going to sell to some guy who was going to turn it into a pizza place, and I got very offended by that,” O’Neill said.

As a result, O’Neill made an arrangement to purchase the Runcible Spoon.

Business at the Spoon did not pick up for almost two years, and then suddenly things began to make a turn, O’Neill said.

“The day I knew the restaurant was going to work I looked at the bank account, I turned around, and there was money in the bank. I wasn’t even looking for it,” he said.

“I feel lucky to have lost a lot of investment money and been forced back into the business. I really like working with my hands and running a restaurant.”