Publisher's Letter: Special, Different, Better

For the past 10 years, the Chain Leader team's been working hard and having fun.

By Ray Herrmann, Publisher -- Chain Leader, 8/1/2006

It has been 10 years since Chain Leader was launched in August of 1996. I joined Chain Leader and Restaurants & Institutions that same month as associate publisher. As a foodservice professional with 25 years of operator, distributor and manufacturer experience under my belt at that time, I found it exciting to begin this new publishing facet of my foodservice career and participate in the launch of a new magazine.

Yesterday and Today
Chain Leader was and is the only magazine with 100 percent of its editorial content dedicated to you, the Chain Leader. That first year, we delivered two issues. In 1997 we expanded to six, and in 1998 we grew to 12. The number of advertising and editorial pages grew as you embraced a product that quickly became “your” publication.

In 1999 I had the privilege to be appointed publisher of Chain Leader. These last seven years have been the best years of my foodservice career. With my partner, Mary Boltz Chapman, editor-in-chief of Chain Leader, and the rest of our team, fondly referred to as the “chain gang,” we have continued to work hard to deliver must-read information to the chain foodservice industry, packaged in the best-looking magazine in the industry.

We have expanded and evolved our original editorial coverage. Our first few issues featured eatertainment and home-meal replacement. Today they are more likely to include growth strategy, food safety, human assets, beverages, technology and finance. We have also introduced two special issues: “Best Places to Work” and “Driving Traffic” are in their third and second year, respectively.

The magazine has won numerous editorial awards including a Jesse H. Neal, one of the most prestigious awards in business journalism, and was selected twice by the American Society of Business Publication Editors as a “Top Ten” in its Magazine of the Year competition.

Beyond the Book
And we’ve grown beyond the pages of the magazine. In 2004 we successfully introduced a live issue of the magazine, Chain Leader LIVE. This event has grown tremendously over the last three years, delivering in person the same insights and solutions as in the magazine. In May 2006, we were the first to introduce executive interview podcasts with a one-on-one conversation with CEO Jon Luther from Dunkin’ Brands, the first of a series of audio downloads. Our Web site relaunches this month, and our e-newsletter, Chain Leader Executive Briefing, also debuts in August.

Special, different and better are the benchmarks for everything we do. All products with the Chain Leader brand on it must pass muster of these three words. We are working hard and having a lot of fun delivering the entire line of Chain Leader products to all our Chain Leaders. We hope you find our efforts to be special, different and better.