Leadership lived: UIS student starts food delivery business in Springfield

Tyler Gansky knew there was a demand for a food delivery service in Springfield, so he took matters into his own hands. The University of Illinois Springfield business administration major started his own business called Abe’s Takeout.

“We’ve contract out with 20 different restaurants to provide a delivery service for them outside of their own employees and insurance,” said Gansky.

Through Abe’s Takeout, customers can place delivery orders from popular Springfield restaurants. Orders can be placed online or by telephone.

Gansky came up with the idea for his business while attending a university in Columbia, Missouri. There he met the owners of four similar food delivery services in Columbia. That sparked his entrepreneurial idea to bring the service to Springfield.

Once back in Springfield, Gansky decided he wanted to learn more about running a business, so he enrolled in the business administration program at UIS.

“The main thing that drew me to UIS was the U of I degree,” said Gansky. “It may be right here in Springfield, but that degree reads the same.”

Ganksy has been actively applying what he’s been learning in the classroom at UIS. Three months before he opened Abe’s Takeout he was busy building the back end of his business, hiring a webmaster to design a website, and hiring employees.

“Here I find myself in this Management Information Systems course, which unbeknownst to me is exactly what I’m paying people to do,” said Gansky.

He knows he made the right decision to pursue his education at UIS, because he’s learning in an environment with smaller class sizes and where professors know his name.

“The classroom situations, the teacher relationships and the overall education experience that I’ve had at UIS is light years ahead of the other institutions I’ve been at,” said Gansky.