A unique opportunity was brought to Little Rock Christian Academy in the form of a small business that was run by the new entrepreneurship class. 

There are two entrepreneurship classes, one during A3 and one during B2. The A3 entrepreneurship class has created Warrior Market which sells food grown in the school’s garden. Warrior Grill offered smashburgers during selected lunches. Both offered a chance for students to learn how businesses work in the real world. The classes had a teacher, Mr. McCaskill, who held the role of mentor and monitor of the class and the students were assessed on their work. Which is the same as every other class offered at Little Rock Christian Academy, or LRCA. But unlike all other classes, the entrepreneurship students completely ran the class and the direction of the business. As a team, the B2 class created the Warrior Grill, a restaurant business focused not only on serving smashburgers to students, but growing in leadership. Days were dedicated to either lessons/reflections, prepping, or cooking/serving. The routine followed a specific order to make sure the business ran smoothly. One day was dedicated to prepping the grill by buying ingredients and prepping food, then the next class was a cook and serve day where students could buy smashburgers the class had made. Lesson and reflection days followed cook/serve days and were centered on improving the process. The team focused their reflection on a phrase that has powered them through the year : “What is our why and why does it matter?” 

For Barrett Mehrabi, a senior and the CEO of Warrior Grill, the class was more than a business. It was a passion and the start of a dream. The son of an Iranian refugee, Barrett learned from a young age the importance of passion and hard work. “I know what it’s like to grow up in poverty; I’ve seen it through my dad. Everything I have, I have worked for,” Barrett said. “My whole life, I’ve been taught everything must be worked for, it won’t be given to you.” His unique outlook led him to be a strong leader for the class. As CEO, he didn’t just manage the business; he did anything he could to promote the business. “I know in the real world, you have to do jobs no one wants to do to be a good business leader and accomplish your goal, and I think Warrior Grill is something no one thought would succeed and it’s gone to heights no one thought it would reach,” he said. And he was right. Warrior Grill had the highest grossing opening day entrepreneurship profit  in the nation for the SEED TREE group, which is an entrepreneurship program for schools across the nation. On the grill’s opening day, the class brought in $850 dollars within 35 minutes. The second serve day, the profit was $1,100 dollars in 45 minutes. “The way I’ve grown up, I knew my passion, my motivation, and my determination would lead me to be the best eighteen year old businessman I can. There is no doubt in my mind that people know Barrett Mehrabi had an impact on the class, the grill, the school,” Barrett said. 

The journey of Warrior Grill, however, wasn’t easy. The idea of an entrepreneurship class had to be pitched to the school board. Once the class was approved, a business had to be created from nothing. “During the first semester, nobody wanted to do it,” Barrett said. “But then it became a business, and people got the opportunity to own something.” The class provided a unique chance for students to take ownership of a live business, where they were able to use their unique skill sets to help it succeed. A National Bureau of Economic Research study found that prior entrepreneurship experience predicts much greater chances of entrepreneurship success. Many young people dream of being an entrepreneur but the staggering amount of businesses that fail can be daunting to a young business owner. Because of the Warrior Grill and Barrett’s vision, students now have a much higher chance of pursuing a future in business.

“I’ve always been set on a grill,” Barrett said. “I was looking for a problem that could fit a solution. In the business world, you have to find the problem and make a solution to succeed. People get tired of school food, so we created a grill.” But as simple as the idea was, there were far more complications behind the business. “When you think about it, we’re kids and we don’t think about the cost of things a lot of the time,” Barrett said. “But when you’re trying to run a business, cost is a large obstacle.” Even without paying salaries, the budget for the class was entirely made of profit earned on serve days. “The cost to make food and the margin between it are very slim,” Barrett added. However, the class had worked together to avoid debt and make a profit. Each person in the class had a role in making the business a success. “As the leader of the class, I want to bring people together for one common goal,” Barrett said. In fact, the students decided that half of all the money made during the year would go into a scholarship for one of the class members to receive. 

For some students, it was merely a fun class, but for others, it was the beginning of a passion for business. The experience provided by Warrior Grill gave real world experience to students interested in attempting to be an entrepreneur in the real world. For example, Barrett, who will be studying international business and economics at the University of Arkansas, was able to gain more insight on how he wants to lead a business in the future. “Philanthropy will be a big thing in my life,” Barrett said. “I had a lot of orthopedic medical problems when I was little, and I saw how expensive it was and there’s thousands, millions of kids who don’t have those funds. So I want to take all the funds I have, the successes I have, and build a place where kids can go to get free medical care they need.”  His experience as CEO of a small business will help guide him in the real world as a leader. The class was a success profit-wise, but the true victory was creating future business leaders dedicated to helping others with their success. That was Barrett Mehrabis’ ‘why’ for his vision of Warrior Grill, that students would have the chance to own something. “It’s important we help people with the successes we have because there is a need and there are people who have the solution, but don’t do it,” Barrett said. “So I think it’s important I go out and be a leader and bring change.”