Sean Joyce
He Knows Where It’s At
Sean Joyce could have been a lawyer, but he has no regrets.
“Now, I hire them,” he says. The president and CE0 of Margaritas has eight restaurants in New Hampshire and 19 throughout New England to look after, so naturally legal issues arise.
Joyce, 41, went to work as a dishwasher at Chuck’s Steak House in Concord when he was 15. Later it became Tio Juan’s and still later Margaritas. Joyce went to Plymouth State College and was accepted to law school, but decided to stay in the restaurant business. It turned out to be a good move for him and for the communities where he locates his restaurants. Just about everywhere a Magaritas pops up, it quickly becomes an official watering hole for young professionals. Attention to authentic details, like real Mexican art, gives each place a sense of, well, place.
“It’s a great business,” he says. “Every day we serve our customers.”
New Hampshire Magazine knows where “It” is at. Each November, we identify the state’s most happening people and publish their names and profiles in our annual “It List.”
So what defines an “It” Person?
How about buzz, panache, je ne sais quoi, currency, a person whose time has come, a person of tomorrow, a timeless person, noteworthy, below the radar, in the news, in the know, hot, cool, high impact, slippery, a mover and shaker, a humble saint, a behind-the-scenes operator, a scenery chewer, an unsung hero, a hero who knows how to sing.
It’s a quality that’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.
Above is one member of the 2006 It List.
