Chain Leader

"How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?" said Julia Child.

I am sure that she had eaten at many of the restaurants that I have when she made that statement. Not many restaurants serve bread as part of the meal. Some serve it in a perfunctory manner that lets them do the expected, without incurring much effort or cost on their part. Others want it to be good, but keep an eye on the cost and labor line. A rare few have decided that bread will become a point of difference, and their bread becomes a memorable part of their experience. Another quote by an unnamed person that seems to apply, "Good restaurants may have bad bread, but bad restaurants will not have good bread."

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My first experience with a chain casual dining restaurant in the grill and bar category was a TGI Friday's in Dallas in the early '70s. The experience was so shockingly novel that there was little to compare it to. The original was opened in New York in 1966 by Alan Stillman. The Dallas location was the first unit of what was to become the TGI Friday's chain under president Dan Scoggin. A few years later, and not far away from the Dallas TGI Friday's, another pioneer in the category, Houlihan's, opened a location. They had very different personalities. Friday's was for the partiers. Houlihan's was for those who wanted a casual, but more innovative food experience. Houlihan's was fun. Friday's was really, really fun.

At the time, the category was called "fern-bar";...Read More

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As chain restaurant owners/operators, we go to great lengths to create a system that operates the same in Miami as it does in Seattle. Ideally, it should operate the same whether your newest manager or your most seasoned general manager are pulling the shift. Experienced chain leaders leave nothing to chance. There is a procedure for almost anything that can happen, and a policy for everything else. After all, what good does it do to invest heavily to open and operate as a chain if all of the customer touch points aren't polished and professional? One area that seems to be tripping up many chains, no matter where they are on the industry ladder, is the lowly tip jar.

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I love this industry, and my role in it. Basically, I go out to eat for a living. For the past 25 years I have been eating in approximately 600 restaurants a year. People outside the industry are usually amazed by a number this high, and ask how someone can eat in so many restaurants. Some people inside the industry ask me where I am eating the other 500 meals a year, and comment that perhaps I am not as loyal to the industry as I should be. My doctor says that he doesn't care what I do for a living; those 15 pounds have to come off. It is frustrating. I have tried everything, but changing my behavior.

Every industry requires a certain amount of work to maintain the skill set necessary for success. Professional athletes practice, work out, and watch game fil...Read More

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In my 38 years of living in Dallas, I have eaten a lot of chips and salsa on my way to finding a Mexican food restaurant that I could call home. There have been some bumps in the road, and some evolutionary dead-ends, as I searched for the perfect Mexican restaurant. Dallas, like most cities in Texas, has an abundance of Mexican restaurant choices. We have hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants, restaurants for local Hispanics, Mexican restaurants for people that really don't like Mexican food, small chains, big chains, Mexican chains formerly in Chapter 11, Mexican chains on their way to Chapter 11, fancy Mexican restaurants, inexpensive Mexican restaurants, good Mexican restaurants, bad Mexican restaurants, and everything in between.

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Dallas has an abundance of Mexican restaurants. Research that I have seen indicates that Dallas rates Mexican food higher than other types of cuisine (including American). We have lots of Mexican chains, and an abundance of local Mexican restaurants. Everyone has their favorite. Some prefer the local independent that attracts the Hispanic population. Others prefer the consistency and familiarity of the chain restaurants, both large and small. I prefer a blend of both.

My first exposure to Mexican restaurants within the industry was while at Steak and Ale in the early ‘80s. We were already expanding Bennigan's, and decided that a Mexican chain would be a good addition to our portfolio of restaurants. We ch...Read More

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Chicken finger. And they are really good ones. Raising Cane's is all about One Love; the love of fresh chicken fingers. They are so good that they don't need to be called chicken tenders to have people try them. Reading about healthy food didn't seem to do much for you. That's okay. That leaves me about 99.9% of the rest of the industry to write about. This concept is growing like a weed. Todd Graves, the founder, started Raising Cane's in 1996 and it is now in 13 states with 67 units.

Todd has a great story about starting the concept. It is typical of many other restaurant founder stories; no money and no one willing to loan or invest in the idea. Undeterred, Todd ...Read More

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One of the things that has fascinated me, ever since joining this industry, is learning what different locations do in sales volume for different concepts. I had the unique experience while at Steak and Ale, then at Brinker, of working on 25 different restaurant concepts. Many never reached a size of over 20-30 locations, but several were 200 units or more. With size comes a good statistical sample of volumes to look at across a chain.

A quote that I always enjoyed hearing, and I must not have been alone or it wouldn't have been quoted so often, was "This is XXX concept's highest volume location in their system." Often, looking at the location, I could picture it being true, and not the subtle salesma...Read More

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I am halfway through the 18th Annual Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF) Leadership Development Conference in Washington, D.C.  If tomorrow’s program is as impactful as today’s, this will have been one more successful conference in a string of 18.  The WFF focuses on personal and career development, not industry trends or issues. However, you spend 3 days surrounded by other foodservice leaders, so concept and industry discussions are inevitable. I have been attending the WFF conferences for the past 10 years and have watched the conference size grow from a few hundred, to over 3000 attendees.

Along with that growth has b...Read More

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When I was in the eighth grade I sent off for a book on the universe by the World Book Encyclopedia that I saw advertised in a magazine. It said that it was free and that “no salesman would call.” They weren’t kidding, either. The salesman didn’t call; he knocked on the front door. He was a little disappointed when he saw that I probably wasn’t a qualified prospect, but that didn’t keep him from trying to convince my mother to buy a set for me. Hold that thought.

I attended the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Scottsdale two weeks ago. It was as good as always. It was packed with speakers covering industry issues and related topics. The overall mood of the restaurant operators who were in attendance ...Read More

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The mid-'80s were a time of hope and promise for some young chains trying to cash in on the perceived demand for food that was fresh and healthy. Two of the bigger names at the time were D'Lite's and Fresher Cooker. They were QSR concepts trying to offer the customer a healthy alternative to the fried and fatty foods of many larger chains. How could they fail? Clearly the public was clamoring for restaurant food that was lower in calories and fat. Head fake! The public was saying one thing to researchers and doing another in restaurants.

The next 20 years were a slow evolution in our industry toward the strategic addition of some "good for you" foods on core menus at QSR, family and casual dining con...Read More

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