Shortly after graduating from college, Chad Walldorf had a choice. He could take a bike trip across Australia or move to Charleston to start a restaurant with two longtime friends.

He chose Charleston.

More than a dozen years later, Walldorf, 36, is co-owner of Sticky Fingers, a regional rib house chain that boasts 12 locations and annual revenues of more than $25million.

Recently, Walldorf was selected for a South Carolina leadership fellowship and named a regional entrepreneur of the year for his Sticky Fingers work.

His chance decision to move to Charleston also proved an unlikely springboard to his current job as Gov. Mark Sanford’s deputy chief of staff.

“I definitely didn’t think it would be a career move,” Walldorf said of co-founding Sticky Fingers.

A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., Walldorf graduated from the University of Virginia in 1991, and moved to Aspen, Colo., to work at a hotel. He thought he eventually might return home to work for his family’s real estate business, he said.

He had not given the restaurant business any thought until his friend Jeff Goldstein offered Walldorf and another friend, Todd Eischeid, the chance to start a Memphis-style ribs joint in Charleston.

Goldstein, whose family was in the restaurant business, was the only one with significant experience in that field. Walldorf said his only experience was a summer job at Wendy’s while he attended high school.

Walldorf quickly learned the ins and outs of the business because he was forced to, he said. The group agreed to switch jobs and duties every six months, he said. Within two years, he had done everything from managing servers and cooks to balancing the restaurant’s books.

Sticky Fingers boomed thanks to Walldorf’s ability to forge long-term business plans and think big, Goldstein said.

“There’s a great balance between his drive and his sense of humor,” Goldstein said. “South Carolina taxpayers are getting way more than their money’s worth with Chad.”

Walldorf met Sanford when the future governor was running for the U.S. House. At the time, Sanford was contacting members of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce to discuss his candidacy, Walldorf said.

During their discussion, Sanford impressed Walldorf with his platform of bringing accountability and efficiency to government.

The two became friends, and Sticky Fingers eventually catered and was host for several of Sanford’s election parties. Sanford asked Walldorf to work for him in 2002.

Since joining Sanford’s office in late 2002, Walldorf has worked on the office’s executive budget and its agency restructuring plan, he said.

“I think change is exciting,” Walldorf said. “I think we’re trying to really push the envelope in terms of making major structural changes in the way we do business.”

This is not Walldorf’s first foray into politics. He took a year off from college to work for the Reagan administration in 1988, he said.

Because his duties at the governor’s office take up most of his time, Walldorf is on hiatus from Sticky Fingers.

The job also has forced him to split his time between an apartment in Columbia and his home in Charleston. His wife, Jena, and their daughter, 3-month-old Kate, also have moved to Columbia.Besides moving to Columbia, Walldorf has seen other changes.

He will be part of the inaugural Liberty Fellowship class. The two-year program will bring together 20 state leaders from politics, business and nonprofits to strengthen their leadership, ethic and civic responsibilities.

In June, Walldorf and his Sticky Fingers partners also won a regional entrepreneurship award from the accounting firm Ernst & Young.

As for the postponed bike trip, Walldorf lived out that dream in May — sort of. He joined Sanford on the last 50-mile leg of a statewide ride. That ride gave him some time to rethink his dream, he said.

“Unless I start working a lot less, and get in shape, I think that (ride) cured me of biking across Australia,” he said.

Reach Sand at (803) 771-8328 or psand@thestate.com.