The Bernstein Perspective: A Fond Farewell

I’ve been honored to chronicle the industry’s growth, but there is still work to do.

By Charles Bernstein, Editor-at-Large -- Chain Leader, 5/1/2006

After more than 30 years of studying and reporting about the restaurant industry, this will be my last column as an official foodservice editor. I am finally retiring to smell the roses and spend time with my wife, Norma, our three children and five grandchildren. Truthfully not a bad idea at all at age 71.

I’m proud of my accomplishments as a founding editor of Chain Leader, helping it over the last decade to grow to its strong position. It’s come a long way since 1996.

I am proud of my three books, which sold well and I think helped the industry: Great Restaurant Innovators, 1981; Sambo’s, Only a Fraction of the Action, 1984; and Winning the Chain Restaurant Game, 1994, a collaboration with Ron Paul, president and CEO of Technomic.

And I fondly recall my work with Restaurants & Institutions and the 18 years I spent as chief editor at Nation’s Restaurant News.

A Look Back
This was a different industry in the 1970s when I started out at NRN. Among the key industry leaders were Joe Lee, Norm Brinker, the late Dave Thomas and the late Joe Baum, all giants in the industry. Sambo’s had been a leading chain then, until it faltered in the early 1980s from overstepping its limits. And Victoria Station, launched in 1969 by three Cornell University grads, rose quickly from 1969 to 1978 to some 100 units, and then the bottom fell out. Another lesson in too much, too fast.

My favorite story was in 1976. I spent a week on assignment reporting on the Alaskan Pipeline, which was being built then. I watched the caterers and distributors conquer the Arctic wasteland in hazardous May weather. I saw trucks filled with food supplies bogged down in mud, unable to move until they could be towed away. I watched 30 percent of the produce spoil, and precious hours lost.

Another one of my favorite assignments was a two-week trip in 1987 through several parts of the Soviet Union. I studied its efforts to build halfway decent restaurants, which rarely succeeded at that time. But by 1990, McDonald’s finally started opening restaurants in Moscow.

Now we see the restaurant industry growing at a faster pace than ever, but we must be careful. It is not perfect by any means.

Challenges Ahead
Certainly, despite the strong, dedicated efforts of the Women’s Foodservice Forum and the MultiCultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance, there still should be a lot more room for women and minorities at all levels of the industry. Diversity remains one of the biggest battles we have faced and continue to face.

Other problems that continue are the too-rapid growth of many overly ambitious companies; IPOs and financing that don’t work out because of rose-colored glasses and lack of due diligence; and too many companies frequently switching leaders at the top—take Burger King as a prime example.

At the same time, we have a massive immigration challenge which must be settled reasonably.

And the restaurant industry needs to continue trying to elect more foodservice leaders to Congress and other public offices.

When I started, this was a smaller industry and didn’t have anywhere near the clout that it has today. It has been my honor to be with you and to see it grow. And I’ll still be watching and cheering you on.