Lee: fundamentals will never fail

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 22, 1990 by Milford Prewitt

Lee: Fundamentals will never fail

The scheduled topic was "The New World of Management in the '90s." But Joe Lee, president of General Mills Restaurants, talked about "timeless fundamentals."

Despite all the emphasis at the MUFSO conference on "managing new realities," the 1989 Operator of the Year winner argued that a new age didn't necessarily mean changing tactics.

"I think the basic, old-fashioned, timeless fundamentals will work no matter how they are packaged," Lee said. "At General Mills our basic philosophy is to please the customer, our employees and our investors."

Lee said that at the heart of the fundamentals are programs to make employees strive for excellence, which would result in satisfied customers.

"I believe you need a corporate culture that emphasizes customer satisfaction, and we try hard to see what our customers want because we know who's the ultimate boss. I know it goes under a lot of buzzwords these days, but QCS doesn't change much."

Lee stressed that he did not see much difference between what restaurants needed in the past for success and what they will require tomorrow.

"The actions we need to take us into the future are the same ones we needed in the past," he said. "The customer service and experience we provide are irreplaceable. These are the fundamentals we'll need in an increasingly complex environment we will grow into in the 1990s."