Hohman dies at 56: Country Kitchen ceo

Nation's Restaurant News, June 26, 1989 by Peter Romeo

Hohman dies at 56; Country Kitchen ceo

MINNEAPOLIS -- Richard B. Hohman, a driving force behind the Country Kitchen family restaurant chain for the last seven years, died at his home in nearby Edina after a bout with cancer. He was 56.

Country Hospitality, operator of the 252-unit restaurant system, did not immediately name Hohman's successor as president and chief executive.

"Not only was Rich Hohman a wonderful person; he was one of the finest, plain good human beings I have ever known," said Curt Carlson, chairman and owner of Carlson Cos., the parent company of Country Hospitality.

"We will all miss him at Carlson Cos," Carlson added.

Under Hohman's stewardship, Country Kitchen sought to deflect fierce competition from fast-food chains and bigger coffee-shop operators by trumpeting its old-time-country theme even as a systemwide modernization was under way.

While virtually every restaurant was given a more contemporary appearance, menus were peppered with a number of home-style offerings.

"The country's calling you," beckoned a supporting advertising campaign.

More recently, the chain embarked on a drive to double in size by 1992 and spun off a low-priced lodging complement called Country Hospitality Inns. Hohman oversaw the fledgling hotel chain.

"All of us who knew Rich had the greatest admiration for him on both a professional and personal level," said Juergen Bartels, president of Carlson's hospitality group and Hohman's former boss.

Bartels recalled how, during the annual convention of franchisees in January, Hohman urged them to "have a positive spirit." Hohman had undergone chemotherapy just a short while beforehand.

"We are all the better for having known him," Bartels said in a letter notifying franchisees of Hohman's death.

"He had a way with people; it's hard to put into words," said Alan Post, a marketing veteran who worked with Hohman for two decades, first at the Red Barn fast-food chain and subsequently at Country Kitchen.

"When people met him, they liked him instantly," Post added.

Hohman began his food-service career following an eight-year stint with the U.S. Marine Corps, where he rose to the rank of captain. After being discharged, he took an hourly position with a then-young chain called McDonald's.

For five years Hohman's responsibilities grew with the chain, propelling the University of Notre Dame graduate to the post of operations manager for McDonald's 210-unit Midwestern division.

In 1967 he was hired as operations supervisor of Red Barn, a national hamburger chain owned at the time by Servomation, a contract feeder now known as Service America. Hohman was promoted to president in 1976, and he held the post for two years.

The Midwesterner joined Country Kitchen as vice president of operations in 1982. A year later he moved up to president.

The operation was renamed Country Hospitality following its diversification into the lodging business.

Hohman is succeeded by his wife, Rowena, and eight children.

Three of Hohman's children have followed him into the hospitality business.

Rich Hohman Jr. is regional manager of Landmark Hotel Corp., a Topeka, Kan.-based lodging operator. Howard Hohman is general manager of a Red Lobster unit in Florida. And Andrew Hohman manages a ShowBiz Pizza Place in Virginia Beach, Va.