Local Experts Gather Around the Table

Bob Shadley sits down and orders a light lunch from a waiter he addresses by first name.

Most of the staff at Sunsets Restaurant in Wayzata knows Shadley. He and a group of other local men have breakfast here most weekdays at what is known by employees as “Table 1.” It was at these breakfasts when talk of bettering the community morphed into the birth of an endeavor focused on making a difference in the lives of local residents and businesses.

Table 1 Consultants is comprised of about a dozen men and women who are experts in their fields and live and work in the Wayzata area. Believing improvement of the nation begins at the local level, Shadley says Table 1 has a simple mission.

“The whole idea was that if someone came in with a problem and wanted to get their company turned around or whatever, Table 1 would be able to provide a broad spectrum of services,” Shadley said. “First, we want to help our neighbors and friends. Two, we want to let people know that the participants in Table 1 consultants are a talented group that can provide services to small companies that can’t afford them on a full-time basis.”

Take, for example, the local businessman who recently came to Table 1 looking for ways his manufacturing company could better compete for Department of Defense contracts—one of Shadley’s specialties. Known by close friends as “The General,” Shadley spent more than three decades in the U.S. Army. He was instrumental in establishing the base at Guantanamo Bay, was J4 of the Atlantic Command during the mid-1990s and spent six years mentoring army units headed for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“People who complain about the United States really need to go to some of these other countries,” Shadley said. “In Kuwait I saw a mother dip a baby bottle in the gutter to feed her baby. In Haiti they fight each other over garbage and live in houses made of Coke cans. The good here far outweighs the bad.”

With the help of Shadley and Darrell Leines, another Table 1 member who has worked in the defense sector, the local manufacturer now has the tools and resources he needs to be a player in the awarding of DoD contracts.

Another recent Table 1 success story came in the form of a local resident that came to the group looking for a job.

“By noon we had him set up,” Shadley said. “That’s rare, but it shows what kind of things can happen.”

This kind of grassroots impact is what Table 1 was built to deliver. From marketing and financial advising to database management and fundraising, Table 1 members zero in on specific ways businesses and individuals can grow and prosper—simultaneously strengthening the broader community.

“There comes a time in life when you need to pay back the community and friends for all of the support you’ve received over the years,” Shadley said. “I think that is what most of us are looking to do. The strength of this nation is in the communities—taking care of each other, taking care of your neighbors and being concerned about what’s going on while keeping an eye on the bigger picture.”

So how can one reach out to Table 1?

The group’s website, designed by Fuzzy Duck Design (a Table 1 member) went live about a month ago.

At least one and usually several members of the group are also at Sunsets Restaurant in Wayzata almost every day during the week.