Norm Brinker touched the lives of countless people in the restaurant world. Read what some of them had to say about the passing of an industry legend. More tributes can be found at
David Head, chairman and CEO of Captain D’s Seafood Kitchen in Nashville, Tenn.:
“It was 1980 and I was a waiter at a Steak & Ale in North Miami Beach, Fla. I was going to hotel-restaurant school. Norman was touring the restaurant with some folks. We knew he was coming. It was like a visit from the pope or something.
“He walks up to me and just said, ‘Are you David?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He goes, ‘Hi, my name’s Norman.’ Like I didn’t know who he was. He said that the GM had said you are an outstanding member of this team and that you are going into restaurant management as a career. He said he really appreciated us making this restaurant one of the best in the country.
“He said he hoped I would consider Steak & Ale as a career.
“I was blown away. It’s like a high school basketball player being pulled aside by Michael Jordan. I was 22 or 23 at the time. The fact that he took the time made me feel important, like I was the only guy in the room. It was just powerful.”
Woody Berry, retired in Richardson, Texas, after working with Steak & Ale from 1975 to 1987:
“I was 26 years old in 1979 and had just opened the Steak & Ale in southeast Houston down by Clear Lake, and we were facing our first Mother’s Day, which was a shot in the dark regarding sales since we had no history.
“We blew the doors off that day, doing 996 guests, a national sales record for one day for a Steak & Ale of that small size.
“When the significance of what we had done set in, I called Norman’s office on Monday morning to tell him. He was on his way out the door, but [his assistant] Margaret Barlow chased him down and he came back to the phone and got as giddy as his 26-year-old GM when I told him what we had done.
“He could have simply hung up after congratulating us, and that would have been wonderful, but at 6 p.m. that same Monday evening I looked up and there he was, standing in my hostess area, beaming that smile.
“He stayed at my restaurant until 8 p.m., personally visiting with and making sure to get to know a little something about each and every one of my employees, all of whom had worked so very hard that day before.”