Ron Paul, co-founder and leader for nearly 50 years of the foodservice research firm Technomic, has died.
He was 90 years old when he passed on Friday after a period of ill health. The specific cause of his death was not revealed.
Paul sold Technomic in 2015 to Winsight Media, which was subsequently acquired by Informa, the London-based media and events company that also owns Nation’s Restaurant News.
By that time, Technomic was firmly established as one of the foodservice industry’s premier research and consulting firms, providing data and insights to suppliers and operators alike throughout the world. And Paul was the force who led it there.
“Ron was a true legend and innovator,” said Technomic president Patrick Noone, a protégé of Paul. “From the start of Technomic in 1966, he helped thousands of companies navigate the foodservice industry by providing data, insights and intelligence to help make informed business decisions.”
When Technomic was founded, the modern restaurant industry was still emerging. Driven largely by entrepreneurs, the field was growing at a head-turning clip but lacked such elements of infrastructure as a solid supply network and a means of benchmarking sales.
Paul, an industrial engineer by training, spotted the need for hardcore intelligence and a degree of organization within the chaos. In particular, suppliers with thriving retail trades needed a sharper understanding of this new business and how they could capitalize on its breakneck expansion.
At the time, cash registers and microphones that could relay remote orders to a kitchen were the cutting edge of restaurant technology. But Paul believed more sophisticated equipment would be crucial to the business’ evolution from a mom-and-pop trade into an industry large enough to need help navigating the ups and downs of the economy. He and a partner were convinced they could make money by providing the guidance. They launched a company called Technomic, a mash-up of “technology” and “economics.”
The venture’s first big customer was the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association, or IFMA, the supplier trade group that changed its name last week to the Food Away From Home Association. IFMA needed a detailed picture of this fast-emerging market and what opportunities it presented to members.
“They couldn’t quite wrap their arms around the breadth and depth of the business,” said Nancy Kruse, president of the menu-consulting firm The Kruse Co. and a senior executive of Technomic in its adolescent years. “Ron defined it. He effectively gave us the 17 or 18 segments that are still used today in breaking down the market.”
“The basis of all that came from Ron Paul,” said Joe Pawlak, managing partner and a 33-year veteran of Technomic. “It’s still valid today.”
Technomic would update the statistical profile annually in the form of a placard customers could post in their office. It became known far and wide as the Wall Chart, and its release became a news event for the industry.
Ditto for the IFMA Outlook & Forecast, an annual update prepared for the suppliers’ association by Technomic. Paul and other senior executives of the research firm would project the major trends suppliers and operators could expect in the coming year, and how that would translate into sales. The report was presented during the fall in multiple major cities. Attendees would walk away with a three-ringed binder about 4 inches thick, the data packed inside.
Paul would demonstrate his encyclopedic knowledge of the business during the Q&A component of the presentations. He soaked up information about the industry like a sponge. Sue Kissel, now the manager of Informa’s Chicago office, recalled how voracious of a reader the president was while she was Technomic’s library tech assistant. Paul was on the routing path for every periodical, newspaper or government report the company received. If he found something interesting, he’d have photocopies made and redistribute the intelligence to all.
He also showed the depth of his knowledge in his dealings with the media. Paul had a policy for himself and his senior team of never turning down an overture from the press. If a reporter called for an interview, the request was fulfilled whether it came from the Wall Street Journal or a small-town weekly.
Pawlak recalled picking up a copy of Newsweek the week before his interview with Paul for a job at Technomic. The issue happened to have an article on restaurants, and “quoted in the interview was a Mr. Ron Paul of Technomic,” Pawlak recounted. “And here I was, about to interview with him for a job a week later. I was terrified.”
But, he continued, that apprehension was quickly allayed. “He was very much a down-to-earth person,” said Pawlak. “He could speak at your level.”
“In my mind I can picture him walking through the office, stopping at someone’s desk, maybe sitting in their chair, asking how they were,” recalled David Henkes, a Technomic senior principle who joined the company 28 years ago. “He cared for his people.”
“It was management by walking around,” remarked Pawlak.
“He always had time for everyone, and even to this day we hear a Ron reference on a regular basis from both our internal staff and clients,” says Noone.
More than anything else, said Kruse, “he was an entrepreneur, an ideas guy.”
And he encouraged those around him to be likewise. Henkes recalled contending during his 1996 job interview that Technomic should focus more intently on the adult beverage market and the international foodservice scene, a cheeky thing for a twenty-something to tell an industry icon. Paul not only took no offense but encouraged the young applicant to explore the possibility. Today, both fields are major components of Technomic’s business.
Not that he was a pushover. “He was sort of a father figure,” said Henkes. “He could be stern, he could be tough. You never wanted to disappoint Ron.”
But “Ron never embarrassed anyone or put them in a bad situation,” said Pawlak. “We worked hard, but we were kind of a fraternity, a sorority. We had a common mission. At the end of the day, what Ron did for the industry was put some structure behind it.
“People who’ve been in the industry for just the last 10 or 15 years, they may not know about Ron,” Pawlak continued. “But they should.”
“He will be missed,” said Noone. “We look forward to continuing to carry on his trusted legacy.”
This story first appeared on NRN sister site Restaurant Business.
