NEW YORK —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
More than 200 restaurant executives attended the invitation-only event at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, presented by the Elliot Group, an executive search and consulting firm founded by Alice Elliot for the hospitality, foodservice, manufacturing and retail industries. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
Under the “Lessons in Leadership” theme, the conference addressed human resources practices and industry trends while also recognizing motivators and mentors. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
“Everyone has to change their business models far more often than they have in the past,” said keynote speaker Geoffrey Colvin, senior editor-at-large for Fortune magazine. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
“Customers have so much more power,” said Colvin, who also is heard daily on the CBS radio network. “In the food industry customers have never had more choices.They’ve never had so many varied competitors from which to choose. They are totally in the driver’s seat like never before.” —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
Employees today also have more options and choices, so retaining talented workers is a top priority for their companies, said members of a leadership panel moderated by Joni Thomas Doolin, chief executive and founder of Dallas-based People Report, a human resources research firm. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
Operators need to address ways to lower the industry’s high employee turnover, said Don Thompson, president of McDonald’s USA. He participated in the panel with Jean Birch, president of Romano’s Macaroni Grill; Sandee Pritchard, chief people officer of Donatos Pizza; and Sam Fox, founder, president and chief executive of Fox Restaurant Concepts. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
“If we are able to fully retain the individuals we have with comprehensive benefits, career development and growth opportunities, with inspiration in terms of the overall environment, the better shape we will be in moving forward,” Thompson said. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
Birch said operators need to avoid stereotyping their employees and broaden their pool of job applicants. For example, rather than relying on college students for their waitstaff, look for older workers or stay-at-home mothers willing to work a few hours a day. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
“We have to have more diverse approaches to the business than we had in the past,” Birch said. “What we’ve always done in the past is not going to work in the future. The leadership has to change.” —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
A couple of operators discussed how their companies have changed or are in the process of adapting their concepts to meet consumer demands. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
Ruby Tuesday, the chain of more than 900 restaurants, is in the middle of a five-year plan to reposition the brand to a higher-quality casual-dining concept, said chairman and chief executive Sandy Beall III, who founded the company 37 years ago. The company has been revamping menus, changing management requirements and service systems, and remodeling the look of its restaurants, he said. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
“We believe in constant change and evolution,” Beall said. “Everybody in the organization feels comfortable with change. We think we have a better chance to be a better company over the next 35 years.” —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
Bob Holden, president of Elephant Bar, a casual-dining chain in the Greater Los Angeles area that was founded by the late Chris Nancarrow, described how the concept underwent its own repositioning in the late 1990s after some 20 years in business. The restaurants were remodeled and their menus were revised, and the concept focused more on food and less on its bar business to broaden its customer appeal. Now some units do $6 million in annual sales. The company expects to have 48 units by the end of the year and just under $200 million in revenue, Holden said. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
“In 1996, Chris said,‘If we don’t do something different, we’re going to go out of business,’ ” Holden said. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
Casual-dining restaurants can expect to have a challenging year, said Ron Paul, president of Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based research and consulting firm. Paul gave his annual update on economic trends and issues facing the industry, but he encouraged restaurant executives not to worry solely about the economy. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
“In any given year, there are chains that well outperform the industry and chains that show a decline,” Paul said. “A lot of it is up to you and the leadership that you and your organization provide.” —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
Julia Stewart, chairwoman, president and chief executive of IHOP Corp., was this year’s recipient of the Elliot Mentor Award. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
In a one-on-one conversation with Alice Elliot, Stewart discussed her career and leadership style. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
“I worry about making certain [that] I’m a couple of steps in front of everyone else,” Stewart said. “[IHOP is] an industry leader in our category, but that’s not good enough. Once you get there, you have to stay there. I think it’s tougher to stay there. You have to constantly be thinking of how to stay relevant and be in front of the consumer.” —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
Also during the conference, the Elliot Group recognized five human resources executives as Motivators of the Year: Steve Russell, senior vice president of U.S. human resources for McDonald’s; Tera Sunder, chief people officer for Cafe Rio Mexican Grill; Jean Boland, vice president of human resources for Focus Brands Inc.; Jennifer Capier, vice president of training and development for Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar; and Angela Hornsby, vice president of operations and former vice president of human resources for T.G.I. Friday’s. —Leaders in the restaurant industry must be ready to embrace change and adjust their business strategies in today’s fast-moving marketplace, attendees of the 22nd annual Elliot Leadership Conference were advised here this month.
