Nation's Restaurant News honors six outstanding multi-unit foodservice executives each year with the Golden Chain Award, recognizing the recipients' recent accomplishments and career achievements. Recognized chain and on-site restaurant leaders who have made marked strides over the recent 18 months in several of the following areas, resulting in improvement of overall business performance. 

Specific areas of success include:


Participants in the Award Winning CEO Panel at the 2010 MUFSO conference came out in favor of the national menu-labeling law, but exhorted attendees to continue to advocate for an interpretation of health care reform that would benefit the foodservice industry.


Sally Smith, chief executive of Buffalo Wild Wings and the MUFSO Operator of the Year, said that there were still areas of the legislation that required further clarification, and she said it was important to let politicians know how it would affect restaurant businesses.


Making a great burger is often viewed as an art form, so it’s fitting that the Shake Shack concept began as part of an art installation at a park in New York City.


It was in 1998 that the idea for what is now the six-unit fast-casual burger chain began to take hold, according to Danny Meyer, founder and chief executive of parent company Union Square Hospitality Group.