The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-12-03
" PEARCE AND PLENTY. "
HoW 4 POoR BOY MADE 4 FORTUNE
 IN CHEAP EATING HoUSES.

London Studded by His Countless Res
 taurants-EirGt Started a Morning Coffee
 stall-~ Grew from the "Gutter Hotel" to
 Larger Propositions,
 One of the best-known names in Lon- don at the present day is John Pearce, whose countless restaurants, bearing the simple legend, 'Pearce and Plenty" simply stud the metropolis.
 The other day, while passing one or his cheap eating houses, MT. Pearce overheard a man speaking to a friend. He was saying:
 Now there's that chap Pearce; he's made his pile, and all he's got to do now is to stroll round and scoop in the talk ings"
 MT. Pearce asked him if he was ac- quainted with the person of whom he was speaking so freely, and the stran- ger answered, with cheery mendacity:
 "Oh, yes; I've known him for years and years!"
 "Scooping in the takings" sounds nice and it is interesting to learn how this desirable object was achieved.
 John Pearce, at the premature age of nine, went out to earn his own living as best he could.
 His first venture was not what would nowadays be called lucrative. He was errand- boy to a picture-frame maker, and received in exchange for his valua ble services the lordly sum of two shil lings siXpence per week, exclusive of his meals. This, however, did not suit him he was ambitious; and after staying for about two years with a pastry cook, he at last obtained a berth in a build er's yard. Tn two years he had learned his business so thoroughly that even to this day he never employs an architect when he is laying out a new depot-he does his own surveying.
 He then went into provision mer- chants shop, where he stayed for about four years. But even then he was not satisfied; so he took leave of his master and hired himself out as a porter in Co., vent Garden market. Wages were not high, and in 1866 he found himself-in his nineteenth year-with no prospects and a total capital of one pound, but with a resolute determination to make his fortune
 One evening while returning home along old Holborn Hill the great idea struck him: Why not start a morning coffee-stall here?" He wasted no time. He turned about and walked off to get permission from the police to put his idea into practice. But this, they said, was out of the question, and worn out and dispirited, 1t is no wonder that he felt just then that everything was against him. However, at last, by dint of perseverance, he obtained the COW eted permission, and a few days more found him installed at four o'clock eve ry morning at the corner of East Road with a coster's barrow. hired at a shil- ling a week, @ few boards and small coffee urn and cups. He found it very difficult to make both ends meet, for his expenses were comparatively large, and at this period his takings rarely amounted to more than two-and- six pence per day.
 However, he had plenty of spare time, so he laid out two shillings in a large American ham box, a little more in two secondhand cab wheels and springs, together with large pot of red paint, and he set to work to build himself a real coffee-stall which should start1e the natives of City Road with @ ven geance. It took just nine months to make, but when it was done It was in deed thing of beauty, with it's glisten- ing scarlet sides, it's showy gliding, it's polished brass plates. and, to crown all, on the top the brilliant sign, "The Gut ter Hotel" That was g. masterpiece! Business began to increase by leaps and bounds, and at the end of a few years it's sharp proprietor was taking an av- craze of six pounds a day. and was vis- ited every morning by about two thou sand hungry early risers
 All this, however, meant hard work and plenty of it, for Pearce had to start away from Hoxton at two o'clock sharp every morning to the breadshop to get new, warm bread, and had to be at his stand by four, rain or shine, good health or bad. There is not a large margin of profit to be made when half a pint of coffee is sold for one halfpen- ny, but, nevertheless, fifteen months later he had saved the sum of one hum dred and twenty pounds! Now Pearce's next thought was:
 I'm a man of means, and I can af- ford to get married"
 He had already fixed his affections on a young lady. With @ huge effort he screwed his courage up to the sticking point, and within six weeks it was all over. John Pearce was married man. He then sold ''The Gutter Hotel' for the sum of two hundred pounds and looked around for something larger to do.
 Our married man now thought that with wife and the sum of three hun dred and twenty pounds he was worthy of greater things, so he took a tumble down shop at 69, Aldersgate street, for the tail-end of a lease, and started in a much larger way to dispense cheap bread, coffee and other victuals to the early-rising poor who liked to take their meals under shelter When his lease expired he heard of a place in Burlington street, and at once took that on long lease. It was from there he built up the immense network of shops which spread north, south, east and west, all over London.
 Business grew and grew, until his place in Harrington street was not large enough, and he was obliged to open other depots in different parts of the metropolis. The strain was very great and at tines he felt OyprnoUe1-ad