C. Dennis Scott: the 'guru' of Buffets Inc. builds his following by preaching the basics

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan, 1997 by Donna Hood Crecca

When C. Dennis Scott purchased a buffet restaurant at age 23, his belief that success consisted merely of serving food and collecting money at the register was shattered by his first P&L statement.

"I think I lost the equivalent of the cost of four college educations in the from six months," Scott says.

But what Scott lost in profits he recouped in experience and in the process gained a love for foodservice that ended an earlier career in women's wigs.

In the 26 years since his initial foray into what is arguably one of the country's most competitive business sectors. Scott is hailed as the guru of the buffet concept by none other than longtime partner and one-time competitor Roe Hatlen, chairman and chief executive of Old Country Buffets Inc.

The "guru" returned home, so to speak, last September.

In a move that surprised some industry observers, Scott merged his 7-year-old HomeTown Buffet Inc. of San Diego with his former company, Buffets Inc., parent of the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Old Country Buffets, which he co-founded with Hatlen in 1983.

Different visions for the company led to friction between Hatlen and Scott, and Scott departed in 1989, first becoming a franchisee of Buffets Inc., then severing ties completely and founding HomeTown Buffet Inc.

At HomeTown, Scott implemented a "scatter bar" concept -- where the buffet was configured into a series of food "islands" in lieu of a straight-line service system. Scott also imbued HomeTown with an entrepreneurial spirit and a guest focus that made it one of the country's fastest-growing restaurant chains. But even in doing so, Scott held a special place for Old Country in the competitive arena of the all-you-man-eat segment.

"As the organization was growing, Dennis didn't want us to fight too hard when it came to Old Country Buffet," reveals a HomeTown executive. "I think he felt like it was picking on a cousin. He had a lot of respect for it and its management."

Now rejoined with that organization, the Oregon native is vice chairman and chief operating officer of the country's largest buffet operation, with a total of 336 units and 1996 combined revenues of $790 million.

However, rather than rest on the laurels of those statistics, Scott applied the simple mantra of an early mentor, John North Sr. of North's Chuckwagon: "Put your head down, and go to work."

"Now that we're the biggest, we have to become the best," says Scott, who throughout his career has defined "being the best, as applying the basics: "Make good food, serve it in a clean environment and treat people as you would guests in your own home. It's worked for 26 years."

Nevertheless, Scott admits, that may be easier said than done given the scope of the Buffets Inc. operation and the fact that same-store sales have been slipping in both the HomeTown and Old Country concepts.

But that doesn't seem too large a deterrent.

Rather, Scott considers it a great challenge. "[Before the merger], Buffets had become more of an operating company of Old Country," he observes. "Now it has to become more operations-oriented."

Buffet operations is Scott's forte, and his skills have been honed through serving in a variety, of positions in several buffet companies. Thanks to an all-you-can-eat strategy, his initial difficulties with his own restaurant turned positive, and he sold the restaurant.

Scott joined North's Restaurants Inc. 1976 as a unit Manager and eventually, elevated himself to director of operations.

From there he went to buffet operator International King's Table Inc. in 1980, first as an area manager and then as a regional director overseeing one-third of the company's restaurants. It was there that he earned the unofficial title of turn around artist.

"I'd go into a unit and take a look at what was really happening in the restaurant," Scott says. "Then we'd work to make the food better, clean up the serving-and-dining environment and keep in mind that the guest is a guest. It worked."

Today his hand-on operating formula consists of spending a quarter of his time in the units and putting in "more hours than I'd like to admit."

"You can dress [Scott] up and go out on the road. and he's great: but he really shines when he's in the kitchen, discussing how to make a bread dressing and getting into things like moisture content with a chef," says Buffets Inc.'s president, Kerry Kramp, who joined HomeTown in 1992 and was vice president of operations before the merger. "Then he'll go out on the floor to work with the staff in the dining rooms and ring with the cashiers. He's 100-percent hands-on."

Scott attributes his passion for food to his mother, Dolores, whose recipes were the foundation of his buffet vision and are still used at Old Country and Hometown, where 90 percent of the food is prepared through scratch cooking. Scott's personal favorites -- and customer favorites -- are her potato salad and fruit salad. Her death in 1995 was mourned throughout the HomeTown organization.

The food quality at Old Country and HomeTown brought new respect to the buffet segment and earned the concepts loyal customers across the country. While visiting a HomeTown unit in Newark, Calif., just before its opening a few years ago, Kramp recalls, a car pulled into the parking lot. The driver approached Scott, possibly recognizing him from table tents that featured Scott relating the HomeTown story.