Celebrating strong leadership and innovation in especially challenging times, Nation’s Restaurant News has named five prominent restaurant executives as its 2010 Golden Chain award winners.
They will be honored during the 51th Annual Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators (MUFSO) Conference, held October 3 -5 at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Fla.
“For over 30 years, NRN’s Golden Chain winners have represented the best in foodservice. They are leaders whose recent accomplishments and career achievements have benefited the restaurant industry as well as consumers around the world,” says NRN publisher Randall Friedman. “Our class of 2010 continues this outstanding tradition of restaurant leadership, and we look forward to honoring them at MUFSO in Orlando.”
The 2010 Golden Chain honorees:
• Sardar Biglari, chief executive of Biglari Holdings Inc., parent to Steak 'n Shake. Biglari has same-store sales and income heading in the right direction at the 76-year old Steak ‘n Shake chain. A wholly owned subsidiary of Biglari Holdings, Steak ‘n Shake operates or franchises more than 500 restaurants in 22 states. Under Biglari’s leadership, system sales in 2009 grew 4 percent to $724 million, compared with a decrease of 4.9 percent in the preceding year. Biglari noted that 2009 saw a reverse in the decline of customer traffic that had been troubling Steak n Shake over most of the last decade and also saw a reversal in operating losses.
• Fred DeLuca, chief executive of Subway Restaurants. Founded in 1965 by Fred DeLuca with Dr. Peter Buck, a family friend, Subway now has 33,090 units in 91 countries and is the largest U.S. restaurant chain, boasting 23,034 domestic units. The company ranked second in U.S. systemwide sales in 2009 with $9.99 billion, a 3.7 percent increase over the previous year. Innovative strategies have helped keep this Milford, Conn.-based company on the rise, including the introduction of a $5 Footlong product that helped maintain sales growth. In addition, it’s ongoing positioning as a healthful alternative to traditional fast food, and its recent moves, such as the introduction of breakfast, have underscored an aggressive growth drive.
• Elie W. Maalouf, president and chief executive of HMSHost Corporation. Elie Maalouf is president and chief executive of HMSHost, a world leader in creating restaurants and retail stores for the travel industry with operations in over 100 airports in 13 countries and in 104 North American motorway plazas. As the country slipped into recession and traveler traffic tumbled, Maalouf’s steady hand at the top helped the Bethesda, Md.-based company maintain growth in U.S. airport food-and-beverage sales throughout 2008, thanks, in part, to a wide portfolio of licensed and proprietary food-and-beverage concepts. This set the stage for operational and marketing fine-tuning in 2009 that would foster rising comparable food-and-beverage sales this year.
• Kevin Reddy, president, chairman and chief executive of Noodles & Company. Restaurant veteran Kevin Reddy, who joined Noodles & Company as president in 2005, continues to provide leadership for the chain’s more than 235 company and franchise-owned restaurants in 18 states. His goal is to grow the concept by serving fresh and wholesome food, and building strong relationships with guests and communities. It’s paying off with U.S. systemwide sales growth of 13.3 percent and 26 percent the last two fiscal years, ringing up 2009 sales of $227.3 million. The Broomfield, Colo.-based chain recently augmented its pasta, soup and salad lines with three sandwich duo offerings — the Mmeatball, the Wisconsin Cheesesteak and the Med.
• Sally J. Smith, president and chief executive of Buffalo Wild Wings. After earning a Golden Chain award in 2003, this industry leader is back in the winner’s circle by leading the Minneapolis-based chain to a more than 20-percent growth in each of the past two fiscal years, reaching $1.48 billion in sales in 2009. Hired in 1994 as chief financial officer, Smith was promoted to president and chief executive in 1996 and has led company expansion from 35 U.S. units to 652 at the close of 2009. She continues to keep the chain on track with aggressive targets of 15-percent annual unit growth, 20-percent net earnings growth and 25-percent annual revenue growth rate.
“In tough times, strong leadership plays an increasingly vital role in a company’s ability to weather adversity and stay on track,” says Curtis Wilson, vice president/general manager, restaurant and lodging industries for American Express Merchant Services. “These executives typify the type of leadership that makes for successful organizations. On behalf of American Express, I salute their vision, their ongoing commitment to excellence, and their steady hand at the helm of their companies.”
First presented at MUFSO in 1977, NRN’s Golden Chain award recipients read like a Who’s Who in the restaurant industry with winners coming from every segment. From this year’s list of honorees, operator readers of NRN will vote for the Operator of the Year, which will be announced at the MUFSO Awards Banquet on Oct. 4.
For information about MUFSO and to register, call 212-756-5201 or visit www.mufso.com.
