LOS ANGELES —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
The session was sponsored by American Express. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
During the President’s Panel, an annual highlight of the Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators conference, several of the chain leaders said they plan to focus more intently on unit-level operations next year, when softening sales and rising costs are expected to intensify pressures on margins. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
“We have to get our profitability back in line,” said Nick Vojnovic, president of the Tampa, Fla.-based Beef ‘O’ Brady’s casual-dining chain. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
“You know costs are going to increase,” said Zach McLeroy, chairman and chief executive of 400-unit Zaxby’s Chicken Restaurants in Athens, Ga., voicing his expectations for commodity and fuel prices. “You cannot pass that on to customers,” so the only solution “is throughput,” or stepping up volume. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
A few of the panel participants also concurred that a profit-gnawing environment like the one forecast for foodservice is the very time to spend more on personnel development, instead of indulging the reflex to cut wherever possible. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
“There’s no better advice I can give you than to invest money in a system to identify talent,” said James H. Maynard, chairman and co-founder of Raleigh, N.C.-based family-dining powerhouse Golden Corral Corp. and the 2007 recipient of the Pioneer Award, a lifetime-achievement-type honor previously bestowed on the likes of Col. Harland Sanders, Dave Thomas, Norman Brinker and Joe Lee. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
Beyond those few points of strategic intersection, the 2008 business plans aired by the panelists were as varied as the organizations they represented. Gerard T. Gabrys, president and chief executive of Fairfax, Va.-based contract feeder Guest Services Inc., said the two areas of his focus would be ecological responsibility and providing nutritional information to guests. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
Addressing health concerns also figured high on the priorities list of Paul Clayton, chief executive of 665-unit Jamba Juice in San Francisco. A key component of his company’s 2008 strategy, Clayton said, is “evolving from smoothies and juices into a healthy-living concept.” —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
Craig Miller, chairman, chief executive and president of Ruth’s Chris Steak House Inc., suggested that his Heathrow, Fla.-based company would plot a future that paid homage to its past, specifically the people-oriented philosophy of its late founder, Ruth Fertel. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
“Plugging Ruth in” was crucial in boosting the steakhouse chain’s average unit volumes from $3.2 million to $5.6 million per year in about 36 months, he said. Miller also cited building restaurants as a priority. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
Linda A. Lang, chairman and chief executive of San Diego-based Jack in the Box, indicated that achieving expansion goals also was high on her to-do list. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
“Our goal is to be national eventually,” she said. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
“We are clearly going through some short-term economic pressures,” said Miller, who cited such hard-to-fathom business problems during his lifetime as a gas shortage and a Presidential price freeze. “But if you look beyond the short term, we have a bright and shining future.” —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
2007 Golden Chain, Pioneer award winners took winding paths to the top The participants in this year’s President’s Panel were on stage because they’ve all emerged as industry leaders. But their paths to the forefront were as varied as the business strategies they cited for 2008. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious. Paul Clayton, chief executive of Jamba Juice, started his foodservice career by landing a job as manager of a McDonald’s in Germany, where his father, a relocated American executive, had given him two weeks to find employment. He initially decided that foodservice wasn’t his field. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious. “I wanted to become an investment banker and make a lot of money,” he said. “But I discovered that I didn’t like the yellow ties of investment bankers.” —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious. So he returned to fast food, ended up in the executive suite of Burger King and then moved to Jamba. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious. Zach McLeroy came out of high school with rock-star dreams. But when he noticed his friends were having fun on Saturdays while he was wailing away at his drum kit, he sold the skins for $8,000, pooled his money with a friend’s, and opened a chicken restaurant called Zaxby’s. The chain, for which McLeroy serves as chairman and chief executive, now has 400 stores. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious. Gerard T. Gabrys leapfrogged into foodservice after getting a Super Bowl ring. But the president and chief executive of contractor Guest Services Inc. earned his trophy by hitting the balance sheets, not the gridiron. A public accountant by training, he handled the finances of the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Orioles before a recruiter hooked him up with Guest Services, whose clients include the U.S. House of Representatives. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious. James H. Maynard, this year’s recipient of the venerated Pioneer Award, had wanted to become a restaurant franchisee, but no chain would have him back in the early 1970s. So he and his business partner decided to start their own. They supplemented their meager capital by soliciting investments from the teachers and principals of small schools in the Carolinas. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious. “I’d ask them for their last dollar, sometimes while their wives were crying,” Maynard recalled. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious. With everyone’s savings on the line, Maynard opened a restaurant called Golden Corral. It didn’t make a profit. Neither did the second branch. if the third store didn’t make it, the company would have gone under, taking the educators’ nest eggs with it, Maynard said. Instead, the teachers’ investments grew along with the chain, which currently numbers 474 stores, with systemwide sales of $1.6 billion. —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious. “As you can see,” observed James C. Doherty, moderator of the panel and executive vice president of Lebhar-Friedman Inc., parent company of Nation’s Restaurant News, “a leader comes in all shapes and sizes and genders.”—Peter Romeo —They agreed that 2008 would be a difficult year. But the seven foodservice executives honored during MUFSO as the standout leaders of 2007 were far from unanimous about how to cope. During a 90-minute panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, the winners of Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious Golden Chain and Pioneer awards previewed strategies ranging from going greener to wooing the health-conscious.
