DALLAS Darden Restaurants, Doug Brooks of Brinker International and David Brandon of Domino’s Pizza will sit down with Nation’s Restaurant News’ editor Ellen Koteff for a frank discussion about how to compete and win in today’s challenging business environment at the 50th annual Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators conference, or MUFSO. —Industry titans Clarence Otis of
Darden, Brinker and Domino’s control a combined $11.4 billion in corporate revenue, which represents 9.2 percent of all the revenue generated from Nation’s Restaurant News’ Top 100 companies. —Industry titans Clarence Otis of
The largest chains they control—including Red Lobster, Chili’s Grill & Bar and the No. 1 pizza delivery brand, Domino’s Pizza—together tally U.S. systemwide sales of $13.7 billion, or nearly 7 percent of all sales generated by Top 100 chains. —Industry titans Clarence Otis of
The three chief executives, who will be participating with Koteff in the “Having Words With” panel Tuesday, Oct. 6, come from different backgrounds, and each brings a unique vantage point to the table. —Industry titans Clarence Otis of
Otis’ background was in finance and corporate law, not restaurant operations, when Darden recruited him as corporate treasurer from J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. in 1995. In 1999 he was named chief financial officer at Darden, and took the reins as chief executive in 2004. He also served as president of Darden’s Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill from 2002 to 2004. —Industry titans Clarence Otis of
Brooks began working at the second Chili’s location in Houston as an assistant manager in 1978, rising through the chain’s ranks until he was named president of Chili’s in 1994, a post he held until he was named executive vice president of Chili’s parent Brinker International in 1998. He also held the post of chief operating officer from 1998 to 2003. Brooks has served as chief executive of Brinker since 2004. —Industry titans Clarence Otis of
Brandon was the backup quarterback for the University of Michigan in 1974 under the leadership of coach Bo Schembechler. He took over as chief executive of Domino’s in 1999 when founder Thomas Monaghan sold the concept to the Bain Capital investment group. Before heading Domino’s, Brandon was president and chief executive of Valassis Inc., an international marketing and sales promotion company, for nearly 10 years, from 1989 to 1998. —Industry titans Clarence Otis of
“These three men are great strategic thinkers, thoroughly comfortable in their own skin and not afraid of the tough questions,” Koteff said. “I’m looking forward to picking their brains and giving MUFSO attendees the chance to do the same.” —Industry titans Clarence Otis of
MUFSO will be held Oct. 4-6 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas. For more information, visit