DLYohn Best Bites from Dine America 2010

Dine America

09.13.10-09.14.10© 2010 Denise Lee Yohn, Inc.

1

best bits from

Dine America 2010invitation-only conference for senior foodservice

executives, produced by QSR Magazine

Dine America


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on the importance of attitude:

Turbulence is inevitable,

but misery is optional

Howard Putnam, Former CEO of Southwest Airlines

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on the value of preparation and anticipating future

customer trends and needs:

When the time to perform arrives,

the time to prepare has passed


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4

on priorities:

The people side of business is often

underestimated –

Southwest is just a piece of steel


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5

on vision:

How you perceive the future

will chart the course to get you there


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on how things work in Washington:

Politics comes first;

everything else comes 2nd

Gene Stanaland, economist, aka “the Will Rogers of Economics”

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on current state of the economy:

We’re suffering from

a psychological problem:

- consumers are worried about losing jobs

- corporations are worried about access to capital

and increased taxation

- small businesses are worried about tax cut repeal


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on the U.S. economy:

This system, even at its worst,

is better than anything else going on in

this world


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9

quoting Popeyes’ VP of Operations:

You move what you measure

Cheryl Bachelder, President Popeyes Louisiana KitchenCEO AFC Enterprises, Inc.

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quoting Malcolm Knapp:

The restaurant business is simple;

simple is hard


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Popeyes’ 4 Pillars:

1. Build the brand – food so good, guests can’t wait to eat it

2. Run great restaurants – service so good, guests can’t wait to

come back

3. Strengthen unit economics – profits so good, franchisees love

the business as much as the food

4. Ramp up unit growth – returns so good, franchisees can’t wait

to build more


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12

on the importance of the brand’s culinary roots in

Louisiana Cajun Creole recipes:

brands were distinctive the day they

were created


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on the guest experience:

Our goal is to make our service as

distinctive as our food


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on results:

a bunch of activities isn’t the same thing

as results


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on Popeyes pricing strategy:

the word “discount” is distasteful to me because it

suggests that you can’t compete without

lowering prices;

we need to drop that and instead find out how

much money consumers have in their pocket

and then make our food affordable for them


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on how franchisees view corporate:

I always joke,

“the corporate office are heroes when sales

are up, and schmucks when they’re down”


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on franchisees’ criticism that Popeyes isn’t invested in

the business because it doesn’t have more

company-owned units:

I’ve never presented company restaurant

results that franchisees have believed


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on making hard decisions:

It’s about the brand, not individual sites,

and that’s hard for franchisees to

understand

Todd Bertagnole, franchisee TCBY and Subway

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on working with franchisees:

The earlier you involve the franchisees

[in key decisions], the more likely

you’ll get their support because they

growth through the process

Mike Kuzminsky, SVP, U.S. Franchise Operations, Church’s Chicken

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on his challenge:

Help our company grow up

and still stay young at heart

Joe Tortorice, CEO of Jason's Deli*

*among the top 50 QSRs, Jason’s Deli

has the 2nd highest average unit

volume (topped only by McDonald’s)

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on leadership:

People are looking for 3 things out of leadership:

direction, trust, and hope

Leaders have 3 primary responsibilities:

set vision, get buy in, and remove obstacles

Joe Tortorice, CEO of Jason's Deli

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on being a “living company”:

Companies die young because

managers focus on the economics of

selling goods and services and forget

an organization is a community of

human beings


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on managers vs. leaders:

Managers run mushroom farms –

They keep people in the dark and feed

them manure


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on why culture matters:

Culture is nourishment of

a living company


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on having a unique corporate culture:

People on the outside don’t understand it;

people on the inside can’t explain it


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26

quoting Jim Hunter

who differentiates between power (control) vs.

authority (influence):

It’s a bad day when have to use power,

because it means my authority has

broken down and I have to resort to

using power


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on being a leader:

You have to get down wind of yourself –

make sure who you say you are

is who you really are


Business

DLYohn Best Bites from Dine America 2010