2001 The Year in Review

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 17, 2001 by Ron Ruggless

Among executive changes in April: James Cantalupo, McDonald's vice chairman and president, said he would retire in 2002 after 28 years with the company.

Burger King Corp. named Kim Lopdrup its executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group of San Francisco named chief executive Thomas W. LaTour to the additional post of chairman.

CKE Restaurants Inc., parent of the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. chains, named Dennis Lacy its new chief financial officer and promoted Carl Strunk to executive vice president of finance.

Stephen Carley was named president and chief executive of the 282-unit El Pollo Loco of Irvine, Calif.

Thomas Metzger resigned as president and chief executive of Sizzler USA.

And among deaths, Bill Kimpton, founder of the Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, died in San Francisco after a nine-month battle with leukemia. He was 65.

MAY

Skyrocketing energy prices burdened operators, especially those in California, where they were hit with price increases of as much as 49 percent.

After weathering unscheduled electricity cutoffs, or "rolling blackouts," California restaurateurs faced utility-commission-approved rate hikes of 35 percent to 49 percent. Las Vegas hoteliers considered steeper room charges to absorb some of their increased energy costs.

California's problems were blamed on the state's deregulated and collapsing electric power industry.

According to a study by LKS Partners, a New York equity advisory firm, soaring costs outpaced rising menu prices. The study found pricing power in its group of about 30 restaurant companies was negative for about 14 consecutive months.

Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's bucked the trend of deep discounts, however, by raising prices by 1.7 percent and trimming some "Biggie" items.

Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno provided the opening-day keynote speech at the National Restaurant Association's 2001 Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago and congratulated the foodservice industry for providing "upward mobility" to entry-level workers and contributing strongly to the nation's employment and economic growth. Attendance was reported down at the annual show.

Chicago also was the site of a pilot program, conducted by an agency under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for a "sampling" of restaurant kitchens to detect the dangerous bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. The NRA was concerned that the agency might evolve into a permanent national surveillance program targeting restaurants.

Fuddruckers opened a new Fudds in the City prototype in Washington, D.C., aimed at densely populated urban centers.

Shells Seafood Restaurants Inc. of Tampa, Fla., said it was abandoning its push into the Midwest, closing 14 of 17 units it opened there.

The International Foodservice Manufacturers Association awarded its top honor, the Gold Plate, posthumously to Michael Hurst, the Florida restaurateur, foodservice leader and hospitality educator who died in March after a battle with pancreatic cancer. His son, Andy, accepted the award, adding: "He was not a pretentious man. He accepted awards in stride and with little fanfare. When he was notified about the Silver Plate, his excitement and enthusiasm were contagious."