Louis J. Basile Jr. has worked in the restaurant industry since his childhood growing up in Union, NJ. His father owned a local luncheonette in East Orange, NJ where he learned the restaurant business. In the beginning of his career, Mr. Basile served as a Construction Project Manager, renovating existing steak houses into Cisco Café Mexican Restaurants for the Chart House/Cork n’ Cleaver Corporation. In 1981 Mr. Basile joined a three-store chain called Au Bon Pain (Boston, MA), an upscale quick service restaurant and bakery. Louis was a key Senior Manager who helped Au Bon Pain grow to over 250 Stores during his tenure. Mr. Basile held numerous Senior Management positions including Vice President of Operations, Construction, Research & Development and Domestic & International Franchising. Mr. Basile and his family moved to Arizona in 1994. Before following his dream to create his own fast casual restaurant and bakery concept, Mr. Basile held the position of President/COO of the Coffee Plantation (Tempe, AZ).
Tracy and Louis Basile founded Wildflower in Scottsdale, AZ in 1995. The first Wildflower opened in November, 1996. Today, he oversees multiple restaurant locations and a growing, fresh dough Central Production Facility as well as a wholesale bread division operating throughout Greater Phoenix and Northern Arizona. Wildflower serves award winning breakfast, lunch and dinner along with unique offering of artisan breads, specialty bakery and handmade desserts. Impacting the local community is an integral part of the Wildflower culture. These efforts over the years earned Wildflower national recognition as the 2018 Restaurant Neighbor Award recipient as selected by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.
Mr. Basile started and was Chairman of the Fast-Casual Industry Council an affiliate of the National Restaurant Association. Louis is a National Restaurant Association Board Member. He is a past Chairman of the Arizona Restaurant Association and Arizona Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Louis serves as a Board Director for Child Crisis Arizona. Mr. Basile served on the Advisory Board for People Report/Black Box Intelligence and PeopleMatter. Louis is a founding member of Changers of Commerce, a movement of leaders who believe there is a better way of practicing Capitalism.
Louis lives in Scottsdale with his wife Tracy. They are the proud parents of three young adult children; Zachary, Jessie and Max.