The best in the business are from 'Brinker's Brood'; Chili's chairman and chief executive: father figure to a generation's execs

Nation's Restaurant News, Sept 28, 1987 by Joe Edwards

The best in the business are from "Brinker's Brood'

Chili's chairman and chief executive: father figure to a generation's execs

Norman Brinker has been boss to some of the best.

The 56-year-old chairman and chief executive of Chili's Inc., the Dallas-based operator of 115 casual restaurants, was employer, mentor, and father figure to a generation of food-service executives.

Some of the industry's best-known figures worked under Brinker at S&A Restaurant Corp. in the glory days of the 1970s, when the company's Steak and Ale chain was firmly established as one of the country's leading dinnerhouses and the fledgling Bennigan's chain was emerging as a trend-setting casual themer.

Brinker founded Steak and Ale in 1966 and sold it to Pillsbury about 10 years later. He stayed at Pillsbury to run the company's vast restaurant empire--which included Steak and Ale, Bennigan's, and Burger King-- until June 1983, when he accepted an equity position at Chili's, then a tiny but much ballyhooed "gourmet burger' chain.

Among those who held executive positions at Pillsbury's S&A Restaurant Corp.:

Richard Frank, head of Pizza Time Theater. He was an S&A senior vice president and operations director for Steak & Ale, Bennigan's, and JJ. Muggs.

Michael Jenkins, president and chief executive of T.G.I. Friday's. He served as executive vice president and later president of S&A Restaurant Corp.

Lou Neeb, former head of Burger King. He went on to direct W.R. Grace's Taco Villa and Applebee's chains.

Hal Smith, former president and chief operating officer at Steak & Ale. He moved first to the presidency of Chili's and then on to the chief executive spot at Chi-Chi's, the Mexican dinnerhouse chain.

Other former S&A Restaurant Corp. executives are George Beall, the Texas entrepreneur now involved with Houston's; Rex Seley, a general partner in Aw Shucks! raw bars and the Woodshed restaurant in New Hampshire; Carl Hays, the former Popeyes executive; and Wallace Doolin, president of Flakey Jake's.

While many former S&A executives have fanned out through the industry, a large group of them has migrated to Chili's to continue working with Brinker.

They include Ron McDougall, who had joined Pillsbury in 1972 and worked in several positions at Steak and Ale and Bennigan's and as marketing vice president at Burger King; Richard Spellman, former S&A counsel who held a similar post at Chili's; and Eddie Palms, Chili's head of design and construction who served in a similar post at S&A.

Also, Chris Sullivan, a former concept head at Bennigan's, joined with two other former S&A executives--Gene Nippers, who had been Southeast development vice president, and Bob Basham, who had been Bennigan's executive vice president of operations--to become Chili's joint venture partners in Georgia and Florida.

Chili's has since acquired Sun State, the company that Sullivan, Nippers, and Basham founded, but they have stayed on at Chili's.

Kyle Craig, who worked for Brinker at Burger King during the heady battle-of-the-burgers days of the early 1980s, is now president and chief executive of S&A Restaurant Corp.

While many of those who worked under Brinker at S&A are quick to sing his praises, some former Brinker men will complain off the record about his sizable ego and what they feel is his habit of taking credit for some of the work of his underlings.

Larry Lavine, the Chili's founder who wooed Brinker to Dallas, left the chain shortly after Brinker's arrival. One source said Lavine found it impossible to work with Brinker, but Lavine never commented publicly.

Still, Brinker is working his magic at Chili's, which has been posting solid sales gains at a time when many restaurant chains are reporting flat sales or worse. And it's true that since Brinker's departure as Pillsbury restaurant czar, Steak and Ale and Burger King have been suffering through some bad times.

Most of those who worked under Brinker at S&A and at Chili's have only praise for their polo-playing boss.

"When Norman came on board, he said, "Let's get a plan. Let's build confidence in ourselves,'' recalled Creed Ford, Chili's senior operations vice president who witnessed Chili's transformation from a small Dallas-area burger chain to a national dinnerhouse concept.

"He didn't get hung up on one menu item or one idea,' Ford continued. "He didn't obsess about the competition. He kept saying, "Listen to the customer, listen to the employees.''

Like other Chili's executives, Ford peppered his conversation with comments that began with the phrase, "Norman says . . .' One of the things that Brinker said after his arrival in June 1983 was that Chili's had to practice "controlled flexibility.'

Ford said that Chili's "had a solid foundation of quality food and service' since Lavine founded it in 1975. "But before Norman got here,' Ford added, "we made a lot of errors. We watched the big boys too much, we didn't cluster our markets, we were chasing Houlihan's and Bennigan's.'

Chili's, with more than 115 restaurants now, has begun to compete effectively with Houlihan's and Bennigan's in markets where they go head to head, Chili's officials said.