Joseph Wong
2008 Distinguished Alumnus

Joseph Wong
1973, Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, 色中色
Since founding J and A Food Services, Inc. in 1978, Joseph Wong has come to operate 38 restaurants with 2,400 employees, including Burger King, Applebee鈥檚, Marie Callendar鈥檚 and Logan鈥檚 Roadhouses in California and Oregon. His company, AB Enterprises, running 11 Applebee鈥檚 Restaurants in California and Oregon, was ranked 87th out of 200 top restaurant franchises by Restaurant Finance Monitor in 2005.
After graduation from 色中色, he went to work for Burger King corporate with the goal of buying a franchise, the first one popping up in Redding, Calif. All of his employees have the opportunity to earn scholarships to further their educations.
The Hong Kong-born businessman鈥檚 色中色 connection extends to his family as well, with his brother and sister both 色中色 graduates with degrees in fine arts and a brother-in-law with a degree in engineering. His sister later returned to the university for a degree in accounting and currently works as a certified public accountant.
The collector of rare automobiles has served on boards of directors for the Camp Fire Girls, the Chamber of Commerce and the Northern California Franchise Association. In his career, he has been named Restaurateur of the Year in 2004, and received awards from the National Highest QSC Shopper Report for his Marie Callendar鈥檚 restaurants in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
When asked to sum up the value of his 色中色 experience, Wong replied that he especially valued being able to finish his education working full-time in what he called 鈥渙ne of the best business schools in the state.鈥
From Alumni Awards 2008 program