Newsmakers 2014: Mark Dirnberger, owner of Bella Italia and Katy O'Ferrell's

The people are what have kept Mark Dirnberger in the restaurant business since one of his first jobs: working at the Burger King on Broadway in Cape Girardeau when he was 16.

"I get a big kick out of watching people sit and enjoy themselves and converse," he says. "Having a place of your own that people can come to and enjoy themselves is what really makes it all worth the while to me."

The man behind Bella Italia and Katy O'Ferrell's Irish pub says his motivation is having a place where people can come together -- whether it be for business, celebrations or even difficult situations -- and be able to sit, relax, talk and enjoy the outing.

"Its part of their lives that I get to touch," he says. "It's just big to me."

Not everyone is cut out for the restaurant industry, and Dirnberger's advice for those interested getting involved in the fast-paced industry is simple but stern: Do your groundwork so you know what you're getting into, and make sure you have a passion for it -- or you're not going to do it the right way.

"If you don't have passion for that business, you don't need to be getting into it," he says. "Because it takes a lot of work; it's a lot of time. It's not something you can get in halfway and do it halfway, or you're not going to succeed."

Katy O'Ferrell's, for example, is a project four years in the making. Finding the right niche for a particular restaurant takes more time to plan and prepare for -- but it has been worth it.

"It's an honor to be in a building with such historic presence as that has, and to be able to operate a restaurant in there is just a real, well, it's just a real pleasure," he says.

--Amity Shedd