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David Overton, founder, chairman, president and CEO of The Cheesecake Factory Inc., poses with the NRN team and Dawnna Bowen of Tyson’s at the MUFSO Industry Awards Gala Reception & Dinner on Monday. “Everybody would say, ‘You have to have a small menu.’ We have a large menu. We make every single thing from scratch every day in every restaurant — we commissary nothing,” said Overton in his winner’s profile.
Ron Ruggless
“They have a lot of pride in the company and what it stands for, we strive for operational excellence that goes down to every level. It pulls them together,” said David Overton, founder, chairman and CEO of The Cheesecake Factory Inc., in reference to his workforce during a panel of 2017 Golden Chain winners.
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Golden Chain and Operator of the Year award winner Jack Butorac, CEO of Marco’s Franchising, LLC, the parent company of Marco’s Pizza, poses with the NRN team and Dawnna Bowen of Tyson’s at the MUFSO Industry Awards Gala Reception & Dinner on Monday. “I can’t accept not growing,” said Butorac in his acceptance speech.
Ron Ruggless
“It’s about having common goals, aligned goals, and transparency,” said CEO Jack Butorac of Marco’s Franchising LLC, the parent of Marco’s Pizza, during a panel of Golden Chain winners. “If you’re transparent, they’ll trust you.” Butorac was also voted 2017’s Operator of the Year.
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Randy Garutti, CEO of Shake Shack Inc., poses with the NRN team and Dawnna Bowen of Tyson’s at the MUFSO Industry Awards Gala Reception & Dinner on Monday. “I’ve been lucky,” he said in his winner’s profile. “I had a few mentors who have changed the direction of my life. I know about leadership from them.”
Ron Ruggless
“It’s less about [employee benefits] and more about patting people on the back and showing them a mirror to see what’s inside themselves,” Shake Shack Inc. CEO Randy Garutti told a panel of Golden Chain winners.
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Lisa Ingram, CEO of White Castle System Inc., poses with the NRN team and Dawnna Bowen of Tyson’s at the MUFSO Industry Awards Gala Reception & Dinner on Monday. “We’ve done more product development in the last eight years than we’ve probably done in the last 80,” Ingram said in her winner’s profile.
Ron Ruggless
“We really try to build great leaders,” said White Castle System Inc. CEO Lisa Ingram at a panel of Golden Chain winners. “But I think leadership happens at any level.”
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Steve King, CEO of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc., poses with the NRN team and Dawnna Bowen of Tyson’s at the MUFSO Industry Awards Gala Reception & Dinner on Monday. “Fundamentally, what has driven that success was an inevitable evolution in thinking about it being a restaurant with games to being more entertainment-focused with great food and beverage,” King said in his winner’s profile.
Ron Ruggless
“If you join a part of the industry that’s growing quickly, and you’re capable, you’re going to be given an awful lot of opportunity, and probably in relatively quick order,” Steve King, CEO of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc., told a panel of Golden Chain winners.
Ron Ruggless
“The longer you walk down whatever path you travel, you learn that people matter a whole lot more than whether you had to throw out a dish, or those other metrics you think matter,” said Denny’s Corp. CEO John Miller at a panel of Golden Chain winners. Miller also won the 2017 Norman Award.
Ron Ruggless
Jenna Telesca, editor-in-chief of Nation’s Restaurant News, hosts the panel of Golden Chain honorees earlier in the day at MUFSO 2017.
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The Golden Chain Award winners pose with Jenna Telesca, editor-in-chief of Nation’s Restaurant News, and Laura Viscusi, vice president of Informa’s Food & Restaurant group, at the MUFSO Industry Awards Gala Reception & Dinner on Monday.
Steph Grant, Steph Grant Photography
(Left to right) Monique Monocao-Levy, group show director for NRN; Laura Viscusi, vice president of Informa’s Food & Restaurant Group; and Jenna Telesca, editor-in-chief of Nation’s Restaurant News, pose at the MUFSO Industry Awards Gala Reception & Dinner on Monday.
Steph Grant, Steph Grant Photography
The NRN team celebrates another successful MUFSO event at the Industry Awards Gala Reception & Dinner on Monday.