A Missouri Western State University Craig School of Business graduate has come back to St. Joseph for a new business endeavor.

“I’m really excited to be back in St. Joseph,” said Scott Lassen, the new owner of Golden Corral located at 715 N. Belt Hwy.

He took over the business January 28th. Lassen said he was born in St. Joseph and grew up just outside of Atchison, Kan. in a small town called Cummings.

“I competed in the Craig School of Business Entrepreneurship Class in 2013 and I won the competition and I was awarded a store in Portland, Oregon.  It was a Mexican restaurant and through that experience and kind of combined with the connections I made through the program I was able to work out a deal with the family that previously owned this Golden Corral in St. Joseph and get a close on that,” Lassen said. “Again I’m excited to be back and I think it’s going to make a big difference with this store having a local owner.”

Lassen graduated from Missouri Western in 2010 then went out to California to earn his MBA.  That’s when he found the job market at that point in time to be a little tricky.

“I got my MBA there and having a rough time trying to land MBA jobs with the economy being what it was at the time so I worked in retail for awhile. The competition opened up for Alumni and I decided I was going to try to go ahead and compete and so I did and I won and here I am now,” Lassen said.

He said he’s hoping to get involved with the St. Joseph Community.

“I’d like to reach out with some local community organizations like the Salvation Army.  Since I am with a restaurant I’d really like to get involved in feeding people who can’t afford food. Also getting involved with some churches,” he said. “We’re a big small town and we like to take care of each other and I want to see that continue.”