The Story Behind the Name

You're not unlike most people who come across my web site or meet me and wonder, why is a restaurant coaching company called Smile Button Enterprises, LLC. What does that have to do with running a restaurant?

The truth is it has nothing to do with running a restaurant.

But it's very personal for me. My father died from a heart attack at the age of 58. I had literally just turned 30. I wanted to carry his torch.

My father, Howard Gray Peters, was the creator of the Smile Button back in 1964 when he was the Public Relations Manager for the South Jersey Gas Company. It was a campaign he put together to bring the company, it's work force and the community it served back together after a strike in 1964.

My father won many national and international awards for his campaign. What probably sticks out in my head the most was an old South Jersey Gas Company newsletter that had a photo of Miss America Pageant contestants around a smile banner. I think the photo was from 1967.

My dad never made a dime off of the creation. I also know that there are at least five other people who claim to have originated the smile button. All I can say is that I have many articles that tie my father to its creation. And I can tell you that it wasn't like he discovered how to put a man on the moon. It's a yellow button with a smile. I have to believe that it was highly likely that there were other people who did the same thing without ever knowing the other did it too.

But as far as I'm concerned, my dad, Howard Gray Peters is and always will be the creator of the smile button.