AIM Strategies | Teamwork, Tenacity and Tacos
By INDIA YARBOROUGH, SAMANTHA MARSHALL and LAUREN JURGENSEN | Photos by BRIAN PETERS
When Seth Wagoner received a fateful call from his former Washburn University roommate Cody Foster in 2014, he didn’t expect to take over a business.
Ten years later, he’s the CEO of business development firm AIM Strategies, which owns and operates local favorites like Iron Rail Brewing, The Pennant, Cyrus Hotel and The Weather Room.
“Topeka invested in us, so it’s our time to invest back in Topeka, he said, reflecting on the company’s harmonious relationship with the community.
Seth estimates that AIM has invested more than $50 million into Topeka’s downtown core over the last decade. This includes its latest venture, a Mexican restaurant named Ta Co.
Cody, the owner and founder of AIM, said he brought on Seth because he wanted to work with someone he trusted. He also needed a business partner with the right strengths to complement his own.
“My strengths involve the idea, the vision, the launch,” Cody said, explaining how Seth was the best person to manage operations.
Around the time Cody was planning to launch AIM, Advisors Excel — a Topeka-based financial marketing company that Cody co-owns with David Callanan — was taking off. The success of Advisors Excel made it possible for him to invest his resources into new ideas.
“I called Seth one day,” Cody said, “and just said, ‘Hey, I’ve already made a few investments that I’m not sure are going to work out. I need someone to spend more time watching over and managing those, but I also have some ideas about other things I think we could do.’”
Cody had acquired a few buildings downtown but still wasn’t sure what to do with them. Together with Seth, they made the decision to expand AIM’s team and manage projects directly.
While Ta Co. is the latest downtown investment in their portfolio, it’s unlikely to be their last.
“Ta Co. actually derived from a food truck,” Seth said. “We had a kitchen manager over in Lawrence that ran a food truck. He basically put this menu together, and we decided to conceptualize it into a restaurant.”
He added that bringing Ta Co. to the capital city was a “no-brainer.”
“We had a restaurant that approached us to buy out our lease in Lawrence,” Seth said, explaining how the buy-out became an opportunity to move their restaurant concept to Topeka.
The tacos-and-tequila joint moved in at the intersection of 8th Street and Kansas Avenue, where it now occupies three stories, each with a different vibe and covered patio seating overlooking the city.
Business has been solid so far, Seth said. With the addition of Ta Co., more than 90% of AIM’s staff is located downtown — and there’s a reason for that.
“Every great, thriving city I go to has a good downtown,” Seth said. “For 30 years while I was growing up here, people said downtown would never be anything. Proving people wrong is something that Cody enjoys, I think. It’s been good to see Topeka embrace downtown. We just want to continue to see it grow.”
According to Cody, strategic community investment leads to further investment, and he’s happy to see more locals jumping in to keep the momentum alive.
New downtown housing options, such as apartments and lofts, might be the next business development Topeka sees from AIM.
“Cody is never out of ideas,” Seth said. “More than anything, he just cares about Topeka. I do think there’s still a lot of great things ahead for AIM — and for Topeka, as well.”
