Managing partner, Roark Capital Group

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• Vision: Neal Aronson founded Roark Capital in 2001, and developed it as a private-equity group that would look for long-term investments, helping brands grow by focusing on their operations rather than “financial engineering.”

• Relationship building: Roark emphasizes working with management teams to help those operations. And the brands’ executives and managers gather in Atlanta yearly to share ideas and strategies.

Photo: Roark Capital Group

President and CEO, Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.

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• Vision: Sally Smith has led Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.’s expansion into new segments and service formats. She oversaw the company’s August majority investment in the nine-unit, Dallas-based Rusty Taco concept, the second fast-casual holding for the company, following the 2013 minority investment in the PizzaRev brand.

• Industry honors: Smith was recognized with the 2010 Operator of the Year Award from NRN, an honor voted on by her peers.

• Leadership: Smith in 2011 served as chair of the National Restaurant Association and as a director at several companies and the Minnesota Orchestra. She also is a member of the World Presidents’ Organization and Women Corporate Directors.

Photo: Buffalo Wild Wings

CEO, Restaurant Brands International Inc.

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• Leading by example: Don’t be surprised to see Daniel Schwartz serve some coffee this winter. The CEO of Restaurant Brands International famously worked inside a Burger King restaurant for weeks in preparation for taking the top job at that chain. Now that Burger King has bought Tim Hortons, he could well do the same there.

• Drive: Schwartz is a go-getter. After becoming a partner at 3G Capital after only three years as an analyst, he quickly became CFO of Burger King only three months later after its acquisition. He became CEO shortly after that.

• Notable investors: He currently has the backing of some of the world’s prominent investors including Bill Ackman and Warren Buffett.

Photo: Burger King

President and CEO, Sysco Corp.

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• Courage: It takes courage for the CEO of the country’s largest food distribution company to buy the second largest, but that’s what Sysco Corp. is doing in buying US Foods.

• Determination: It’ll take perseverance to get the $8.2 billion deal, which has been more than a year in the making, through a skeptical Federal Trade Commission. But DeLaney is committed to completing the merger, which he says is needed amid a changing business landscape.

Photo: Sysco

President and CEO, McDonald's Corp.

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• Perseverance: Since becoming CEO, Don Thompson has tried multiple tactics to turn the organization around, and he continues to adjust and tweak the chain in the face of shifts in consumer demand and legal and supplier-related circumstances beyond his control.

• Meeting consumer needs: Under Thompson, McDonald’s has tested kitchen upgrades to support the rollout of “Create Your Taste,” its build-your-own-burger platform, which is designed to meet growing consumer demand for customized meals.

Photo: McDonald’s

Chairman, Darden Restaurants Inc.; managing member, CEO and chief investment officer, Starboard Value L.P.

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• Perseverance: Smith’s Starboard Value L.P., along with Barington Capital Group, waged a months-long activist-investor campaign against Darden Restaurants Inc. that led to a replacement of Darden’s 12-seat board with the investors’ nominees.

• Questioning everything: Starboard in September produced the highly detailed 294-page “Transforming Darden Restaurants” plan that took issue with operational areas such as adding salt to pasta water, Olive Garden’s liberal breadstick policy, as well as addressing the company’s real estate holdings and increased franchising.

Photo: Starboard Value L.P.

Founder, chairman and co-CEO, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

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• Vision: Ells’ business model is among the most emulated in the industry. Up-and-coming brands are known to aspire to be “The Chipotle of” their markets. And even large restaurant chains have emulated the chain’s customized experience.

• Leadership: Ells shifted to sustainable ingredients long before others did and was seen as an outlier. But with Chipotle demonstrating stand-out unit economics, others are now jumping on the better-food bandwagon.

• Courage: Ells has not been afraid to express his open disdain of Big Agriculture and traditional farming methods that ignore animal welfare. Chipotle has spread the better-ingredient message through alternative marketing techniques like short films, a web series and festivals.

Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chairman, president and CEO, Starbucks Corp.

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• Vision: Howard Schultz with investors bought Starbucks in 1987 hoping to create a chain that would become a “third place” between work and home, a place for human connection, conversation and community. And a good cup of coffee.

• Determination: Starbucks was hit hard during the recession, and the chain closed more than 600 domestic locations, which put 12,000 employees out of work. Saying openly at the time that the brand had lost its way, Schultz successfully orchestrated a comprehensive turnaround.

• Courage: Schultz has jumped into the political fray on a host of issues, from a federal budget impasse in Washington to marriage equality and race relations in America.

Photo: Starbucks

CEO, Yum! Brands Inc.

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• Vision: Greg Creed has charted new growth paths for the once moribund Taco Bell brand, launching its breakfast menu, expanding the value offerings, extending the Doritos Locos Tacos line and fostering new development with the fast-casual U.S. Taco Co. concept in Huntington Beach, Calif.

• Questioning everything: Creed is known for questioning traditions and standards, especially in terms of marketing. He oversaw development of the Taco Bell brand’s “Think Outside the Bun” tagline, which the 6,000-plus-unit chain used for more than a decade. He also led the introduction of the “Live Más” ad campaign.

• Leading by example: Creed espoused the “Live Más” credo and translated it to “Less is Mas” at Taco Bell. “I had a chance to go to Apple in the Steve Jobs era for the day and meet their executive team,” Creed explained in an NRN interview last year. “My takeaway was this idea called addition by subtraction, which is [that] you make the idea clearer when you subtract all the periphery.”

Photo: Taco Bell