Gabe Connell MBA ’01 first had the idea to start a pizza business as an undergrad marketing student in Bloomington, Indiana, where he and his girlfriend (now wife) often shared a pie at their favorite local shop.
“We loved the pizza,” he says, “and it was always in the back of our minds—why not do that one day?”
That moment finally came in early 2004 when Connell opened HotBox Pizza in downtown Indianapolis, not long after completing his MBA at Butler University.
“It was actually at Butler that I started really hatching that plan,” he recalls. “At the time, I owned a couple of roller-skating rinks here in Indy, but I didn’t love that business and wanted to get into something that I could really be proud of and enjoy.”
Connell first enrolled at Butler with the desire to expand his knowledge in areas such as accounting and finance, skills he needed for an ongoing career in business ownership. He was drawn to Butler’s MBA for its flexibility, allowing him to attend night classes while working full time. He also loved the opportunity to learn alongside classmates from a wide variety of professional backgrounds.
“Whether it was people who were working in healthcare, with big manufacturing companies, or people like me who owned small independent businesses—that range of perspectives really enhanced the experience when we were looking at how to tackle problems or work through group projects,” says Connell.
In addition to connecting with fellow students, Connell valued the relationships he built with Butler professors. Several of those faculty members, including former finance professor and Real Business Experience (RBE) founder Dr. Mark Uchida, even influenced Connell’s choice to pivot out of roller rinks and into the world of pizza.
“At the time I was 28 years old, and Dr. Uchida told me, ‘If you don’t love what you’re doing at 28, you’re not going to love it when you’re 38 or 48, so get out now and find what your passion is,’” Connell remembers. “I was laser-focused on pizza once I got that in my head.”
HotBox has expanded rapidly since then, opening 22 locations across Central Indiana plus a spot at the Indianapolis International Airport—and if you’ve ever had a slice from the concessions at a Colts or Pacers game, there’s a good chance that was HotBox, too.
Throughout those years of growth, Connell has consistently leaned on the skills he learned at Butler, especially when it comes to being a strong leader for his team.
“Servant leadership is something I apply to everything we do,” he says. “Because we serve the public, developing a team with the mindset of ‘we’re here to serve’ really matters. Concepts like that aren’t necessarily what I went into Butler thinking I was there for, but they are a big part of what I took away and still think about on a regular basis.”