THUNDERCLOUD - Key Persons
Andy Cotton's sole restaurant experience was as a cook at Les Amis Café, a legendary Austin hangout once located on 24th and San Antonio. He began ThunderCloud Subs with his partner John Meddaugh in 1975 with a $5,000 loan (collateralized by a 1966 Volkswagen and an old yellow Pontiac) from Capital National Bank. Their original location is still operating at 1608 Lavaca.
Outside of ThunderCloud, Andy wrote an award-winning sports column in the Austin Chronicle called The Coaches Corner for 10 years. He's written two books: It's Not Fun, Life Below the Radar of the PGA Tour, and a children's book, A Puppy's Tale. He still does occasional freelance writing.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Founders of ThunderCloud Subs
John Meddaugh lived above his family's general store growing up in upstate New York. He spent his younger days playing golf with his brother and running the store after school. His business and entrepreneurial background came in handy when he met Andy Cotton in 1975. Both John and Andy worked for Tauck Tours, a high-end tour company. They were in San Francisco on a training tour of the Pacific Northwest. John loved Walt's Subs in Albany, New York, an independent sub shop near his hometown. (Sometimes he would have a Walt's Sub three times a day, including for breakfast.) During their three days of training, they talked about what to do with the rest of their lives. John wanted to start an airline; Andy thought a sub shop might be better. They went with the sub shop. John and his soon-to-be-wife Valerie drove to Austin, sight unseen, with all of their possessions on their honeymoon. ThunderCloud was born.
Mike Haggerty was a ThunderCloud customer in 1977 when he met Andy Cotton and John Meddaugh, the founders of ThunderCloud Subs, at the original ThunderCloud Subs on Lavaca St. near campus. Andy and John had been talking about franchising ThunderCloud, and brought Mike on as their first franchisee (the company stopped franchising in 1999).
When Patty Sughrue answered a classified ad for a part-time bookkeeper in 1979, she had no way of knowing that her college job would turn into a lifetime career. ThunderCloud Subs' founders hired her, then flipped a coin to decide whose small office she would share. Andy won and got Patty. The three of them still share office space 35 years later, but now they each have their own.
Patty's passion outside of ThunderCloud is music. She taught herself to play guitar in high school, and enjoyed jamming with family and friends, but finally got serious about music when she received the gift of professional vocal lessons for her 50th birthday. In 2011 she recorded her first CD of original music: Writers, Poets, and Singers, produced by Lloyd Maines and Terri Hendrix. She is currently working in the studio on her second album of original music.