Since being named president and chief executive of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store family-dining chain in 2011, Sandra Cochran has worked to affirm the chain’s position as a leader in the family-dining segment.
The Lebanon, Tenn.-based chain, which has 632 locations in 42 states, posted $2.1 billion in 2013 domestic foodservice sales and had segment-leading estimated sales per unit of $3.4 million, according to NRN’s 2014 Top 100 report.
She has also steered the chain through choppy investor waters in recent years that included numerous rebuffs of activist investor Sardar Biglari, who has aggressively pushed for changes at the brand.
Cochran joined Cracker Barrel in 2009 and also held the executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief operating officer posts at the brand. She brings to the role more than 25 years of experience, including five years as chief executive of the Books-A-Million retail chain. In addition, she is a former Army officer who calls the military one of the “best leadership development programs in the world” and says she frequently taps into that experience in her current role.
Cochran recently spoke with G.J. Hart, chief executive of California Pizza Kitchen Inc., about team-building, communication and the state of the industry.
An excerpt from their conversation follows:
G.J. Hart: What advice would you give to the next generation of industry leaders?
Sandra Cochran: It’s the same advice that I would give an emerging leader in any field today, which is, “Get comfortable being uncomfortable.” You never really have the time or the people or the money or the data you need to make the perfect decision or accomplish all the objectives that you have. As a leader your job is to understand the reality of your situation, evaluate your options and then choose one and be optimistic about your future. It is particularly tough when the environment is so unclear, as it so often has been, at least it seems to me it’s been in the last few years. But my dad used to have a saying, “Everyone wants to point the way when the lights of the village are in sight.”
GJH: Once you pick that path … how much of that do you share and how transparent are you [with] your organization?
SC: The CEO is not just there to develop the strategy but also to be able to articulate it to your teams so that they all understand their role in executing against it. … I think it has been an important part of my role and of our executive team’s role to very consistently communicate what our initiatives are, what our expectations are and what we believe the outcomes will be if we work hard and achieve something.
Lessons in leadership
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GJH: What is the best leadership lesson that you’ve learned from a mistake … and how has that changed the way you view the world today?
SC: Wow. I’ve made so many that it would be impossible to mention one mistake in particular. I do believe that developing an ability to learn from your mistakes is probably one of life’s most important skills. A lot of the real fundamental leadership lessons I learned, believe it or not, probably came from my time as an Army officer, which I went right after college graduation. You know, I think I continue to believe that the military is probably one of the best leadership development programs in the world. Through that experience, you really do see and learn how important it is to take care of your people, to lead by example, and maybe most importantly it is all about teamwork. I have found even in my role now as CEO, it’s still all about the team you have and how well they work together. You have to take care of your people. If you do, they’ll take care of your customers.
GJH: When you say take care of your people, what does that look like?
SC: Often, it looks like listening to them and really understanding what it is that they need in order to do their job better and to feel valued doing it. We believe that if we really listen to what they need and what they’re just as committed as we are to taking care of our guests.
GJH: I find the same thing, people want to be heard. They don’t need to necessarily always get their way. They just want to know that they’re being heard and that they have the true ability to influence change. … I’d love to hear what you might be doing with technology and other innovations that you’re looking for to implementing into Cracker Barrel and how that might change the way you do business.
SC: We’ve got a number of initiatives that focused on the guest facing side as well as the employee facing. On the guest facing side it’s everything from the work we’re doing on our mobile site to make it easier for guests to get our menu information, our locations and all that. A new dining room management system so that, particularly on the weekends, for a busy Cracker Barrel to help us do a better job of optimizing the dining room and keeping our wait times down. We are really working on improving our ecommerce capability both when you’re not within the four walls and also when you’re in the store through something like a tablet that will allow you to [see what merchandise is] available.
In the back of the house … We’re looking at our labor scheduling system. We’re looking at the way our employees can interact with us in terms of scheduling and maintaining their employee information. We’re looking at our food production systems. We’re looking at our training systems. We have got initiatives that involve technology in almost every aspect of the business – online ordering with to go, bulk sales and even just assisting our group sales business.
Future of family dining
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GJH: I find the same thing, people want to be heard. They don’t need to necessarily always get their way. They just want to know that they’re being heard and that they have the true ability to influence change. … [What is Cracker Barrel] doing with technology and other innovations and how [might] that change the way you do business?
SC: On the guest-facing side it’s everything from the work we’re doing on our mobile site to make it easier for guests to get our menu information, our locations and all that. A new dining room management system so that, particularly on the weekends, for a busy Cracker Barrel to help us do a better job of optimizing the dining room and keeping our wait times down. We are really working on improving our e-commerce capability both when you’re not within the four walls and also when you’re in the store through something like a tablet that will allow you to [see what merchandise is] available.
In the back of the house … We’re looking at our labor scheduling system. We’re looking at the way our employees can interact with us in terms of scheduling and maintaining their employee information. We’re looking at our food production systems. We’re looking at our training systems. We have got initiatives that involve technology in almost every aspect of the business – online ordering with to go, bulk sales and even just assisting our group sales business.
GJH: What do you think the future of our industry ... what are you optimistic about?
SC: It’s been a tough time for both the casual and the family segments. The traffic is decreasing and the capacity seems to be increasing. I do believe that the concepts that are best positioned are those that are differentiated. I think it’s [also about] brands that consumers trust. There are a number of macro challenges, starting with what I continue to believe is a very challenged consumer, but we remain focused on our strategy to enhance the core and expand the footprint and extend the brand.
What I’m optimistic about is I think the restaurant industry is a wonderful place. It’s a wonderful place for jobs in this country right now. I think we offer employment for a number of people in our communities. Often it’s first jobs but certainly with us many, many careers [too].
GJH: Yet we’re constantly under fire — we don’t pay enough, we don’t do this enough, all those type of things. How do you think we can change that perception?
SC: [Work to] get the word out about the quality of not just the jobs but the training and the experience that people are getting and how that sets them up for future jobs. A server in a restaurant gets the ultimate [training in] multitasking and the ultimate pay for performance [experience], really.
G.J. Hart has been president, chief executive and executive chairman of California Pizza Kitchen since 2011. He previously was chief executive of Texas Roadhouse for 10 years and won a Golden Chain award in 2006 for his leadership of that chain.