Podcasts about au bon pain

Raised for much of his childhood in Connecticut before moving to New York as a teenager, John Meadow developed a love for hospitality at a young age. He got his start as a dishwasher and sandwich maker at Au Bon Pain before attending Cornell's hotel school. By 24, he opened his first restaurant, and in 2008, launched Scarpetta, which won accolades for its refined yet unpretentious take on Italian dining. As president and founder of LDV Hospitality, Meadow has built an empire that spans multiple countries and cities. His portfolio now includes the forthcoming Barlume, slated to open next month in New York, and his first foray into hotels with LDV at the Maidstone, which opened this summer in the Hamptons.Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.

John's first job as a dishwasher at Au Bon Pain nurtured his relationship within hospitality eventually leading him to Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. John furthered his career in the hospitality industry by opening up his first restaurant, Gin Lane, in Manhattan and then later founding the original Scarpetta and LDV Hospitality bringing La Dolce Vita around the globe.Key Takeaways:• Scarpetta an Italian restaurant, opened in New York 16 years ago, “… it was really game-changing what you did with an Italian restaurant—the coolness, the hipness, the great food, the whole thing.”• John shares Scarpetta's expansion to major cities like Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and international locations including London, Doha, Tokyo, and Rome. John discusses the importance of adapting each restaurant to its local market.• Breaking News: LDV Hospitality plans to open new Scarpetta locations after three years of focusing on international growth while maintaining its unique appeal in different markets.• John shares a family anecdote about "Good Time Charlie," a bar located on the rooftop at Scarpetta NYC• Schatzy and Jimmy explore the resilience of New York City's restaurant scene, particularly during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. They discuss the unique characteristics that make certain neighborhoods thrive (office-dense vs. mixed-use) and discuss the importance of community.• The Pareto Principle (80-20 Rule) in hospitality management.• The lifestyle and personalized service at LDV Hospitality, including the use of CRM platforms like SevenRooms to enhance guest experiences and the significance of creating a seamless and integrated guest experience at properties like The Maidstone Hotel, where every detail contributes to a unified and memorable stay.• Talking Back: John poses a thoughtful and somewhat romantic question to Schatzy and Jimmy asking them to imagine their ultimate last day in New York City before retiring, detailing what their perfect dining and social itinerary would look like.Listen in as John, Schatzy, and Jimmy entertain the audience with fun segments like, “What's Hot and Not”, “Name that Recipe”, “Branded Quick Fire”, and “Trivia Tuesday”.

Ron Shaich is the founder and former CEO of Panera Bread, which he sold for $7.5 billion and was the best-performing restaurant stock under his leadership. Ron helped define the fast-casual restaurant segment: he was also the CEO of Au Bon Pain and is the Chairman of and lead investor in Cava, Tatte, Life Alive, and Level99. Ron joins Adam to share his journey and his best lessons and advice. Ron and Adam discuss entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation, personal and professional development, and much more.

When you think about a "convenience store manager," you probably don't imagine a future billionaire. But that's exactly the path Ron Shaich took from humble beginners selling Tollhouse cookies to a $7.5 billion restaurant empire. In this episode of Big Shot, Harley Finkelstein and David Segal welcome Shaich, the founder of Panera Bread, who shares his incredible journey from a nonprofit convenience store to his pivotal decision to create Panera Bread. Ron is a master at finding the trends others can't see before becoming popular.  He shares the challenges and successes that defined his path, highlighting the power of adaptability and innovation. And breaks down the difference between risk-taking and risk-avoidance, and how leaning into one over the other can lead to incredible success. The episode is filled with incredible takeaways, including: How Ron has the best-performing restaurant stock of all time (44x return compared to the S&P 500) Why his first store in college was a spite store What he learned from his IPO with Au Bon Pain How he created an entirely new category, “Fast Casual” And so much more — In This Episode We Cover:  (02:35) Ron's early years growing up in New Jersey in a family of left-wing political activists (07:50) Ron's gap year working for a congressman  (09:45) How a false accusation of shoplifting prompted Ron to open a convenience store (14:50) How Ron fell in love with business and his time at Harvard Business School (19:28) The rewards of entrepreneurship  (20:40) What business has in common with politics (23:22) How Ron made money selling flea collars in college  (26:00) Why Ron got his inheritance early (27:35) Ron's work in DC as President of Targeting Systems (29:08) How Ron opened The Cookie Jar in Boston (31:43) Ron's partnership with Au Bon Pain's founder, Louis Kane (39:44) Ron and Louis's exceptional friendship and partnership (42:25) The importance of empathy and the insights that it brought Ron (48:35) How Ron created a brand new category, bakery cafe (51:50) How Ron felt right before Au Bon Pain's IPO (53:00) The downsides of going public (54:50) Ron's means, ends, and by-products framework (57:20) What Ron learned from watching his parents face death (1:00:13) How Ron organized his life  (1:03:35) Ron's purchase of the St. Louis Bread Company  (1:07:28) How Ron's trend studying led him to fast casual dining (1:13:52) The transformation of St. Louis Bread into Panera  (1:15:33) Why Ron decided to sell Au Bon Pain to focus on Panera (1:20:25) The rapid growth stage of Panera  (1:22:51) Ron's philanthropy with No Labels and Panera Cares  (1:25:14) The painful journey of transforming Panera  (1:32:09) Thoughts on success, chutzpah, and the Jewish entrepreneurial spirit (1:34:28) Why entrepreneurs are risk avoiders  (1:35:34) Why Ron sees building organizations as a way to impact the world positively (1:37:44) Ron's investment company, Act 3, and the problem with short-termism  — Where to find Ron Shaich: Website: ⁠https://www.ronshaich.com/⁠ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronshaich/ X: https://x.com/shaich Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shaich Where To Find Big Shot:  Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.bigshot.show/⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@bigshotpodcast⁠⁠⁠   TikTok: ⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@bigshotshow⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/bigshotshow/⁠⁠⁠   Harley Finkelstein: ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/harleyf⁠⁠⁠  David Segal: ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/tea_maverick⁠⁠⁠ Production and Marketing: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://penname.co⁠

Some business leaders have a seemingly psychic ability to spot trends, and take them mainstream at just the right moment. Ron Shaich is one of those. As a pioneering force behind fast-casual dining, Shaich saw that a growing number of Americans craved higher quality food in a relaxed yet speedy setting. His first major company, Au Bon Pain, paved the way for the meteoric rise of Panera Bread, with more than 2,000 locations nationwide. An accidental start running a convenience store first showed Ron the power of business to enact change. And his curiosity about trends and pattern recognition has fueled the growth of his businesses for decades. These forces have led to Ron Shaich upending how we eat like few others. Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.comSubscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On Tap: The olive oil crisis, the mayo fraud, eating snow, food elitism, spice trends, au re·voir to Au Bon Pain and the fast food race.Follow us on Twitter at @allucaneatpodThe closing tune is performed by Allison Bishop - find her at https://www.allisonbishopmusic.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ron Shaich is the former CEO of Panera Bread, Au Bon Pain, and recently author of the book "Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations," which combines his personal philosophies with professional guidance from his years of work and prioritizing what has meant the most to him. Ron joins Leah Smart to introduce the concept of a "pre-mortem," which involves defining what matters most to us and how to get there. Ron emphasizes the importance of being rigid in our vision but flexible in our execution. He breaks down the pre-mortem into four areas of life to focus on and shares personal stories and insights on how to create a meaningful life and a successful business. Follow Leah Smart on LinkedIn Follow Ron Shaich on LinkedIn

The restaurant business is notoriously competitive and often propelled by passing fads. But, first at the helm of Au Bon Pain, and then as the founder of Panera Bread, Ron Shaich managed to create an entirely new category of dining between fast food and table service and then dominate that market in the United States. He says the strategies that brought him success can be applied in any type of organization:  listen to and observe customers so you know what they want, create a truly differentiated offering, execute with excellence, and find the right opportunities to grow. He's employed this playbook as an investor in newer ventures like Cava and Tatte, as well. Shaich wrote the book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations.

Perang Harga menjadi jadi. Produk makin banyak yang gagal di jual. Perubahan lingkungan bisnis yang besar dan mengganggu. Profit turun. Ini adalah hal hal yang sering terjadi dan akan terus terjadi. Menimbulkan keresahan? Ya. Menimbulkan Peluang? Mungkin. Adakah rumus jitu menghadapi nya? Kasus yang di angkat adalah Au Bon Pain, Paris. Fresh Bakery Retail Chain.

Studi Kasus Sebuah French Bakery di Amerika yang bernilai 170 Billion dollar yang mengutamakan Nilai Misi ketimbang main harga. Untuk Coaching, Hubungi saya di IG : @husinw atau Linkedin : Husin Wijaya, MM, PCC (Cand) Husin Wijaya, MM, PCC (cand) adalah Certified Executive Coach dan Family Business Coach dari International Coaching Federation.

From its inception, Panera Bread helped pioneer fast-casual dining. Born as Au Bon Pain in the early 1980's, founder and former CEO Ron Shaich built the Panera bakery-café concept into a behemoth with over 2,000 locations. The author of the new book, KNOW WHAT MATTERS: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations, Shaich shares stories of the tough calls he made to build a big brand, and the big idea behind his newest venture, Cava (NYSE:CAVA), and why Mediterranean may be the Next Big Thing in the fast-casual dining sector.   Inside the ICE House: https://www.theice.com/insights/conversations/inside-the-ice-house

How do you build a restaurant chain with lines out the door?  Dylan Lewis caught up with Ron Shaich, the former CEO of Panera and Au Bon Pain, the current Chairman of Cava, and author of the upcoming book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformation. At a live Motley Fool member event in New York, they discuss: Past, present, and future cravings of the American eater Fighting against the “pervasive short-termism in our capital markets” And the future of automation in food Ticker discussed: CAVA Host: Dylan Lewis Guest: Ron Shaich Producer: Mac Greer, Mary Long Engineer: Tim Sparks

Ron Shaich, former CEO of Panera Bread and Au Bon Pain, discusses his book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations. Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. Producer: Paul Brennan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ron Shaich, former CEO of Panera Bread and Au Bon Pain, discusses his book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations. Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. Producer: Paul Brennan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ron Shaich is the founder of iconic brands like Au Bon Pain and Panera Bread, investor in food brands such as Cava and Tatte, and now author of the book ‘Know What Matters.' In this conversation, Shaich and I discuss how to build iconic brands, why ubiquity can breed contempt, and what founder should consider before taking their company public. It was a conversation filled with practical takeaways you can apply to your life today. I hope you enjoy. -- Stay up to date by subscribing to The Profile, our weekly newsletter that brings you the best profiles of successful people and companies. Sign up here: https://theprofile.substack.com/

Why are the public markets good for Cava and not Panera Bread? This week's episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Ron Shaich, the chairman of Cava and former CEO of Panera Bread. Shaich has turned his attention to investing in and building brands since Panera was sold to JAB Holdings in 2017. He recently wrote a book, “Know What Matters, Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformation.” We took the opportunity to talk with Shaich about a wide range of issues, including why Panera Bread thrived while many other players in the bakery-café segment could not. We also talk about the decision in the 1990s to sell Au Bon Pain and focus on Panera. We also talk about some of the other chains Shaich's Act III Holdings has invested in, including an upscale bakery-café concept, a plant-forward concept and an eatertainment brand. But we also talk about public companies and activist investing. After the sale of Panera, Shaich has been highly critical of the public markets and their focus on short-termism, particularly that of activist investors. We asked why he would then take Cava public in the face of that criticism. It's a fascinating conversation with one of the industry's more innovative figures, so check it out.

LEN'S BIO Leonard (Len) Schlesinger is one of the few people in the world that has been at the top of the game in two worlds, academia and business. He is one of the most prolific business thinkers and doers at Harvard where he is in equal parts beloved and respected and has had a decades long career at the top echelons of where leadership and influence are taught and exerted. Len is Baker Foundation Professor at the Harvard Business School where he serves as Chair of the School's Practice based faculty and faculty Chair of the MBA Field Global Immersion program. He served as a member of the HBS faculty from 1978 to 1985, 1988 to 1998 and from 2013 to the present. During his career at the School he has taught MBA and Executive Education courses in Organizational Behavior, Organization Design, Human Resources Management, General Management, Neighborhood Business, Entrepreneurial Management, Global Intelligence, Leadership and Service Management in MBA and Executive Education programs.   Throughout his career Professor Schlesinger has transitioned between academic and managerial roles in education and business settings.  He served as President of Babson College from 2008-2013, held a number of key executive and operating positions (ending as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer) at Limited Brands (later L Brands) from 1999-2007, was a Professor of Sociology and Public Policy and Senior Vice President and Counselor to the President at Brown University from 1998-1999, and was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Au Bon Pain from 1985-1988. Len  currently serves on the board of directors of RH, Inc. (Chair of Compensation Committee) and DP Acquisition Corporation. He also serves as an advisory council member of Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Small Businesses Initiative, and as a member of both the Council on Competitiveness and the Council on Foreign Relations. “Teaching is my primary learning opportunity.” EPISODE OUTLINE (00:00) - Introduction (00:38) - Bio (01:40) - Brooklyn tough, holocaust survivor progeny (02:28) - In and out, seamless transitions; $19 (06:05) - Questions > answers; teaching = learning (08:54) - Running Babson; an ecosystem of stakeholders (11:10) - HBS & AI; growth mindsets for the win (13:47) - Lightning round (14:28) Outro LEN RELATED LINKS Len's HBS Profile Interview: Purpose and Happiness Books and Full CV, Publications Len's Last Lecture as Babson President Restoration Hardware (RH) Board Len's Wikipedia GENERAL INFO| TOP OF THE GAME: Official website: https://topofthegame-thepod.com/ RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/topofthegame-thepod/feed.xml Hosting service show website: https://topofthegame-thepod.podbean.com/ Javier's LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/javiersaade & Bio: https://tinyurl.com/36ufz6cs  SUPPORT & CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/96934564 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551086203755 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOPOFGAMEpod Subscribe on Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/site/podcatcher/index/blog/vLKLE1SKjf6G Email us: info@topofthegame-thepod.com    THANK YOU FOR LISTENING – AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PLATFORMS   

Anthony Amunategui, the Founder of CDO Group, Inc. CDO Group is an industry leader providing a full range of corporate construction development and project management services. Since its inception in 1998, they have represented hundreds of clients in a wide range of varying industries in all 50 states.Anthony started his career painting houses during college, he unexpectedly caught the attention of a Project Manager at a Discovery Zone, where his exceptional efficiency and craftsmanship as a painter stood out. This led to a remarkable opportunities. Anthony and his team revolutionized the construction timeline for Discovery Zone playgrounds, reducing it to an impressive duration of just under seven days. He leveraged his expertise to excel at Boston Chicken (now known as Boston Market), Einstein Bagels, Au Bon Pain, and Panera Bread. In each case, his outstanding performance resulted in him essentially working himself out of a job. This inspired the conception of an outsourced construction management group, which gave birth to CDO Group. With a prestigious client roster including Hampton Inn & Suites, McDonald's, Starbucks, TGI Friday's, Kate Spade, Gap, Mac Cosmetics, Ann Taylor, and Dunkin' Brands, it's evident why CDO Group became a highly sought-after company. Anthony's authentic enthusiasm for construction, innovative concepts, empowering individuals, and the constant pursuit of personal growth has captivated me, and I believe it will have the same effect on you. If you aspire to break through the glass ceiling that's hindering your progress, this episode is for you.Support the showFollow me on Facebook ⬇️https://www.facebook.com/manuj.aggarwal❤️ ID - Manuj Aggarwal■ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manujaggarwal/ ■ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realmanuj■ Instagram: ...

How to go from a penny to hundreds of millions of dollars with serial entrepreneur Anthony Amunategui  Anthony Amunategui, Founder of CDO Group, Inc., started his career with college painting houses, Discovery Zones, and Banana Republics. The founder was discovered at Discovery Zone by a Project Manager for his outstanding craftsmanship and efficiency as a painter, which led to a paid trip. Later, Anthony was invited for an interview in Chicago for a Junior Coordinator position and successfully got the job. He was provided with a credit card from the company and was paid to travel to different places like California, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Additionally, Anthony's team dramatically lessened the time to develop these Discovery Zone playgrounds to under seven days! Anthony Amunategui was able to take what he learned to Einstein Bagels, Boston Chicken, Panera Bread, and Au Bon Pain, and all in other cases. He did everything perfectly that he built himself out of a job. This is how an outsourced construction management group was invented, and CDO Group was formed. Anthony was able to make CDO Group a highly sought-after and satisfied clients' requirements such as Hampton Inn & Suites, Kate Spade, McDonald's, TGI Friday's, Ann Taylor, Dunkin' Brands, and Gap Mac Cosmetics. Anthony's genuine passion and love for construction, empowering people, new concepts, and daily seeking after self-improvement has overwhelmed everyone in the niche. Anthony believes in developing good relations by offering an excellent experience to the biggest multi-unit retailers. Many brands have entrusted CDO Group with their business.

Are you ready for what's next? Can you keep up with technology trends?Anthony Amunategui is the Founder of CDO Group, Inc which provides expanding, multi-unit commercial concepts with Construction Management and General Contracting solutions. He hosts the Future Factory Podcast, invents and grows smart businesses. Future Factory provides capital and business management services, including strategic planning, logistics, accounting, sales and marketing for health care, publishing, food services and beverage industries.Anthony started in college painting houses. He was discovered at a Discovery Zone by a Project Manager for his extreme efficiency and craftsmanship. That led to Chicago for a Junior Coordinator position. He got the job, was given a company credit card, and was paid to travel to places like Puerto Rico, California, and Hawaii and he was hooked! Their team also dramatically lessened the time to build these Discovery Zone playgrounds to just under 7 days! He took what he learned to Boston Chicken (known as the 'Boston Market'), Einstein Bagels, Au Bon Pain, and Panera Bread – and in all these cases, he did so well that he literally built himself out of a job. The CDO Group, Inc. was formed by a group of client-side development professionals to address the industry's changing and often unpredictable development schedules. Their in-depth understanding of owner-side needs and expectations, combined with a relentless pursuit of process efficiency, has enabled them to create value for clients by allowing them to focus on their core operating business while they ensure that their development objectives are being professionally managed.Anthony has a genuine passion and love for construction, empowering people and new concepts.On this episode, he shares the lessons learned from his adventures with his family as featured on their upcoming Netflix series - Family Style!Listen as Anthony shares:- what it means to be an entrepreneur- why traveling is your best teacher- the impact that early motivational speakers had on his life- how to open your mind to endless possibilities- critical differences between great managers and great leaders- how fear might be disempowering you- the Conscious Leadership Triangle- the human-centered approach to leadership- how teams thrive with great leadership- why thought leadership is the next Revolution- the fusion of physical and digital worlds through tech- how to stay current with technological trends- how to stay up-to-date with technological changes...and so much more!Connect with Anthony:Website: https://www.futurefactory.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FutureFactoryPodcastAdditional Resources:"Should We Be Fearful of AI?" w/ Jim FrawleyFeel free to reach out on:LinkedInFacebookInstagramLeave a rating and a review:iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-development-and-technology/id1614151066?i=1000602297620Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/11Ug08FtF0cyaUQf4vJ00cYouTube: https://youtu.be/BfFgzvFLiOY

Dr. Mark Chockalingam is President/CEO of Valtitude/Demand Planning LLC, an SCM strategy consulting firm based in Boston, helping clients across industries: Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Products, Retail, Chemicals and Fashion Apparel, in multiple Fortune 500 companies. Mark's consulting areas include Demand forecasting, Supply Chain Analytics, SCM Optimization, and Sales and Operations Planning. He has consulted for a variety of clients including Teva Pharmaceuticals, FMC, Facebook, Mars, Pfizer, Celanese AG, Pepsi Foods, Honeywell, Colgate-Palmolive, Eastman Kodak, Abbot Labs, Miller Breweries, Au Bon Pain etc. Prior to establishing Valtitude / Demand Planning LLC, Mark worked with manufacturing companies such as Proctor & Gamble, Merck and Federal Express in key supply chain positions. Mark holds a Ph.D. in Financial Economics from Arizona State University and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is also a Past President of the ASCM Massachusetts Minuteman Chapter.

Rikki Amos, Executive Director of The IFA Foundation speaks with Ericka Garza, President of Au Bon Pain, and Marlen Cortez Morris of Ogletree Deakins, about the launch of The Hispanic Latino Franchise Leadership Council. The goal is to reach the Hispanic and Latino communities about challenges and opportunities in Franchising. Special Guest: Rikki Amos.

California gives fast-food employees a say in their wage rates, Starbucks taps an outsider to be its next CEO and Au Bon Pain tries a new prototype.

Nikki and Andrew catch up with their pal Ian Fidance who hosts the new podcast Bein' Ian ...w Jordan. Ian reminds everyone about the time he had to check Andrew's penis at Au Bon Pain. Nikki shares how she met Ian on the set of Bonnie McFarlane's movie and what their roles were. They talk about tattoo culture and break ups. In order to save her voice and still make her commitments, Nikki invites a college radio DJ named Justin to interview her on the pod for a very funny mashup. Noa gives them a quiz about Gen Z terminology and they all understood the assignment! ----------------- Watch this episode on our Youtube Channel: The Nikki Glaser Podcast Follow the pod on Instagram for bonus content: @NikkiGlaserPod Leave us your voicemail: Click Here To Record Get Pod Merch: Podshop.NikkiGlaser.com Nikki's Tour Dates: www.nikkiglaser.com/tour Andrew's Tour Dates: www.andrewcollincomedy.com   More Nikki: IG More Andrew: IG  More producer Noa: IG    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Tuesday morning, private equity firm and Modern Market Eatery’s parent company, Butterfly Equity, announced the intent to acquire fast-casual chain Qdoba Mexican Eats for an unspecified amount of money. The transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, will merge Modern Restaurant Concepts — which encompasses Modern Market Eatery and Lemonade — and Qdoba into one fast-casual restaurant platform, though all three will continue to operate separate brands. Then, just a few hours later, MTY Food Group, parent to Papa Murphy’s, acquired Famous Dave’s parent BBQ Holdings. The deal was priced at $17.25 a share, or about $200 million. BBQ Holdings, also parent to Village Inn, Barrio Queen, Granite City and other restaurants, operates over 200 franchised locations and 100 corporate-owned stores. BBQ Holdings acquired Barrio Queen earlier this year. This comes two weeks after the purchase of Bellagreen by Au Bon Pain’s parent Ampex Brands, which was allegedly a long time in the works. What does all this mean with a looming recession ahead? NRN’s editorial director Sam Oches weighs in. Plus, catch up on all the top news of the day with our daily news recap at the beginning of each episode. Be sure to subscribe to First Bite wherever you get your podcasts or on Castos, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

What makes a great leader? It's the way they inspire, advise, and rally for others. At the first ever Franchise Customer Experience Conference, we asked top industry leaders to tell us about their brand, how they connect with customers, and what's ahead. Limitless Leaders in this episode include Ericka Garza, President of Au Bon Pain, Nicole Salla, CMO of Kiddie Academy, Brittany Graff, Senior Director of Marketing for Painting With A Twist, Rob Krohn, VP of Marketing for Epcon Communities, Larisa Walega, VP of Marketing of Ziebart, Jason Greenwood, CMO of The Joint Chiropractic, and Vanessa Conde, SVP of Marketing for TREND Group and RockSolid Granit.

On Friday, we reported exclusively that Au Bon Pain’s owner Ampex Brands acquired the fast-casual brand Bellagreen from Bellagreen Holdings LLC, which also owns the Original ChopShop. Chopshop will remain its own entity now. Ampex Brands purchased Au Bon Pain in 2021 from Panera Bread and added it to its portfolio of quick-service and c-store franchises that include KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s and 7-Eleven. Terms of the Bellagreen deal were not disclosed, but it officially closed on July 18. NRN senior editor Ron Ruggless has more on the deal in this episode. Plus, catch up on all the top news of the day with our daily news recap at the beginning of each episode. Be sure to subscribe to First Bite wherever you get your podcasts or on Castos, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

Ray is a food industry veteran with over 30 years of restaurant experience. Before joining TGI Fridays, Ray served as the Chief Executive Officer of Ruby Tuesday and previously as Chief Executive Officer of Au Bon Pain. For the prior 8 years, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Ignite Restaurant Group. Prior to Ignite, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Pick Up Stix, Inc. During his 18-year tenure at Carlson restaurants (TGI Fridays) Ray has also served as Vice President of USA Franchise Operations, Vice President of Operations for its East Division, and Executive Director of its International Division serving Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He has received many awards and recognition, including nominations for the prestigious Carlson Fellows Award in 2003 and in 2005, Division of the Year for TGI Friday's in 2001, 2002, and 2003. In 2013, he received the “Golden Chain Award” and was ultimately named “Operator of the Year” by Nation's Restaurant News. He consistently and passionately gives back to the industry and his community serving as the founding Chair of the “Dine Out for No Kid Hungry”, an industry-wide initiative focused on ending childhood hunger in America. He also serves as an advisor on the No Kid Hungry executive board. He has raised well over $5 million in his tireless efforts to end childhood hunger in America. Ray holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University and is a member of the Society of Fellows of The Culinary Institute of America. for more information check out our website Razed Typical - www.benergy1.com/razedtypical​ Autism Resources - https://www.benergy1.com/autism-resources Merch - https://www.benergy1.com/shop

Henry co-founded LNK in 2005 and has over 25 years of operating experience and 21 years of private equity experience in the consumer and retail sector.Henry is currently non-executive Chairman of PVH and serves on the Board of Directors of Schweiger Dermatology and Northeastern University. He has previously served on the Board of Directors of Ariat, Natural Food Holdings, Au Bon Pain, Staples, Panera Bread, Denny's, Spyder Active Sports, Ulta Beauty, and Blinds-To-Go. Henry received a BS from Northeastern University, where he is a Chair Emeritus and Trustee.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Will companies meet their animal welfare commitments? , published by saulius on the Effective Altruism Forum. Write a Review Summary Multiple animal organisations are now focusing on securing corporate commitments to improve animal welfare. And they have been very successful: Chicken Watch lists 1672 such commitments, 1007 of which are set to be fulfilled between 2020 and 2026. However, there is some reason to worry that some of these commitments may be broken: Some industry sources doubt whether U.S. cage-free commitments will be fully met. Insufficient consumer demand and lack of funds led to producers slowing down or even shutting down their cage-free conversion plans. What is more, only 27% of U.S. companies included in CIWF's EggTrack report disclosed their progress towards cage-free commitments. So far, most animal welfare commitments were met. However: Sainsbury's broke their broiler commitment. Marriott, Burger King, Smithfield Foods and Woolworths pushed back the date of their commitments. Bennet, Dussman, Au Bon Pain, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and The Walt Disney Company did not report progress to CIWF for cage-free commitments that have already passed their due date. In the past, some companies gave themselves some wiggle room in the phrasing of their commitments, which they could later use to get out of their commitments with less damage to their reputation. Based on this, I suggest that it would be valuable to put more effort in ensuring that companies keep their promises, and I list some ways in which it could be done. Broken and postponed commitments Sainsbury's In 2010, following a corporate campaign, UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's committed to introduce higher welfare standards for all of their own brand fresh chicken, within five years. They publicized their high welfare credentials widely in the UK press and received an award from Compassion in World Farming (CIWF). Eight years later, less than 20% of the chicken sold by Sainsbury's is higher welfare, and now they have decided to abandon their welfare promise (source). There was a shaming campaign against Sainsbury's, and they did receive some negative publicity. However, it seems that the shaming campaign died down without any new promise received from Sainsbury's. I'm afraid that this sets a bad precedent. If the animal welfare movement does not react to broken promises with more resistance, all the corporate commitments that we achieved may not mean much. I think that we should campaign against Sainsbury's until they agree to a new broiler commitment. It would be best to all do this as a united front, to make it clear that a demise of any one organisation would not mean that commitments achieved by that organisation are no longer important. Then all animal organisations could use this situation as an example of what happens when corporations break their promises. I also believe that now is the best time to act on this. If many commitments fail at the same time in 2020 or 2025 (which are the respective deadlines for many of the commitments), each individual brand will probably receive less bad publicity due to saturation of similar stories. It may be seen as a failure of the corporate world as a whole, or even as a failure of the animal welfare movement. Smithfield Foods In 2007, Smithfield Foods (the world's largest pork producer) announced that “it is beginning the process of phasing out individual gestation stalls at all of its company-owned sow farms and replacing them with pens—or group housing—over the next 10 years.” In 2009, Smithfield delayed their plans blaming the recession. According to HSUS article, “Such backpedalling led to a serious HSUS campaign, including an undercover investigation at one of its factory farms, complaints about false advertising, significant negative media cove...

Mike & Kenny move their money into fast-casual burrito behemoth Chiptole. They discuss bald eagles, guacamole, chips as napkins, and how exactly you're supposed to pronounce Au Bon Pain.   

Hello and welcome to another audio version of Burnt Toast!This is a newsletter where we explore questions (and some answers) around fatphobia, diet culture, parenting, and health. I am Virginia Sole-Smith. I’m a journalist who covers weight stigma and diet culture, and I’m the author of The Eating Instinct and the forthcoming Fat Kid Phobia.Today, I’m pleased to be chatting with Dr. Rachel Millner, a psychologist based in Newtown, Pennsylvania who specializes in eating disorders. Welcome, Rachel! I’m so excited to talk to you. Before we dive into our big topic, why don’t you tell our listeners a little more about yourself and your work?RachelAs you already said, I’m a psychologist, outside of Philadelphia, I’m in private practice here. I work primarily with folks who are dealing with eating disorders, disordered eating, those wanting to heal their relationship with food and body. I do a lot of work around anti fat bias and weight stigma. And I frequently talk about “atypical anorexia” and weight stigma and how those issues play out within the eating disorder field.VirginiaAnd you have an awesome Instagram that I will link to in the transcript. I also interviewed you for a New York Times piece last year. (And this Good Housekeeping story!) What I wanted to chat with you about today, what kind of inspired this conversation, is an Instagram post you did back in June, and I’ll just read the text here. You wrote: And I sort of had a real like, yes moment reading this. I think this probably resonated with a lot of folks, and for other folks, this might be sort of confusing. There are a lot of misconceptions about the relationship between trauma and weight. There’s just a lot we can unpack here.So first, I would love to hear a little bit of the background of what inspired this post for you.RachelI think, you know, there is so much nuance here. And it’s one of those topics that I think does bring up a lot for people, because of all the weight stigma. You know that when we start a conversation around trauma and fatness, given the weight stigma in the culture, of course, we all kind of go into high alert and brace ourselves for like, okay, what’s coming next? What prompted this Instagram post was just sitting with clients and hearing their stories and feeling like their stories aren’t being told. And wanting to name that for some people, there might be a connection between fatness and trauma. The other side of that narrative that’s so harmful, is this idea that if we heal trauma, then somehow we’re magically not going to be fat anymore. This is something that’s projected onto my clients all the time. So I was just thinking about these conversations that I have in my office all the time, that are never told.VirginiaI’ve heard this from readers before, where they almost feel like they’re being a “bad fatty” if they say, “I think my body size is related to this experience I had.” That really denies their truth. And it makes it difficult for them to tell their story.I mean, it gets really messy, it gets really messy. So, I guess, you know, for folks who are newer to this conversation, it might be useful to start by talking about some of those relationships you’re seeing among your clients? How does trauma sometimes relate to body size? What scenarios are you kind of referencing here?RachelThe story that I hear from my clients is that when they were going through trauma, particularly childhood trauma, although I think it’s also true for people who have experienced trauma as an adult, that oftentimes food is what’s available to cope. If somebody is in a home where they’re being traumatized, or a child who doesn’t have access to therapy or other ways of getting support, food is often available. And it’s a really effective coping mechanism. It can be really helpful to eat in response to sadness or pain or suffering. And for some people, that eating may lead to weight gain, not for everybody, but there’s, you know, people who, that eating in response to emotions over time might lead to them gaining weight.Then too, I think for a lot of people who have trauma around weight stigma, and are put on diets at a very young age, we know that dieting often leads to weight gain. A lot of my clients talk about what it was like to have trauma around weight stigma, being told that their body was wrong at a young age, and being forced to restrict their food intake, which then, of course, leads to bingeing and leads to weight gain.VirginiaAnother narrative I often hear about is what Roxane Gay wrote about in Hunger. She framed it as almost more of a deliberate decision to eat as a form of protection. What are your thoughts are on that, if that’s something you also see coming up for folks?RachelI appreciated Roxane Gay’s book so much, because I think this is a narrative that doesn’t get told. And I’m really of the belief that we need to believe people. And you know, when people share their story, we can trust that what they’re saying is true and real. When I have clients who talk about intentionally gaining weight, or thinking about fatness as a way to be protected from the male gaze, that makes a lot of sense. And we still know that that’s rooted in weight stigma. Because this idea that if we’re in bigger bodies, then men are not going to be attracted to us is rooted in weight stigma. And it’s real, right? This is the water that we swim in. It doesn’t mean, you know—there are many people in fat bodies who are in wonderful relationships and have lots of people that are attracted to them. But I think this idea, especially, I hear a lot with my clients who have had sexual trauma, is that there’s a feeling of protection when their body is bigger.VirginiaRight, that somehow they can hide more that way. Which, yes, again, there’s the layers of fatphobia built right into that, but it’s also an understandable path to seek when you’re struggling in that way.RachelAnd we know that when people either lose weight, or their body is smaller that, especially for those socialized female, oftentimes their body is sexualized, is put on display, people feel free to comment and you know, “compliment.” And that can be really vulnerable for people, for anybody, but especially people who have trauma history, especially around sexual trauma.VirginiaI think that’s really important to articulate. The more you’re talking about this, the more I’m realizing how weight stigma plays into it right from the beginning, for so many folks navigating trauma and weight. Even, as you were saying earlier, that the sort of idea of emotional eating, getting demonized, that’s something we talk about a lot here—I’ve certainly experienced it myself. We tend to praise the idea of people losing their appetites while undergoing trauma, like that gets celebrated as if that was a good coping strategy, when actually, that’s quite alarming. That weight loss that can result, again, doesn’t always result but sometimes results, isn’t a good thing.I remember when my daughter went through a lot of intensive medical experiences, and we lived in a hospital for weeks and months at a time at various points. And people would always sort of encourage me to get out and go for a walk, like that’s what you should do as a “healthy coping strategy.” And I was like, hey, I can’t leave her hospital room. We live here. And I’m terrified if I leave, she’ll stop breathing. So no, I’m not going for a walk. And actually, eating Au Bon Pain chocolate croissants while I sat in this hospital room for hours a day like felt good, and was comforting and it alleviated boredom and stress. I just remember wondering, through that trauma, why is my chosen coping method feeling wrong to everybody around me? And that’s weight stigma. It’s because they didn’t see it as “healthy” because it might result in weight gain, or did result in weight gain.RachelInstead of being able to see the wisdom in that, that having access to food while sitting in a hospital room is so wise and comforting. If we were neutral about food and body size, then it would be like, okay, bring all the croissants, and have as many as you want, and comfort yourself and try to get through this really horrific time. Instead, we hold up some coping mechanisms and vilify others, which is ridiculous. VirginiaI will say, for the people in my life listening to this, that I did have people who supported me on the croissants and understood when I said, “No, I really can’t. Yes, my husband can leave and go for a run, and that’s really helping him through this time, but me leaving is not something that will feel—like, that feels terrifying.” And people did respect that, but it was tricky to articulate. And it’s tricky that when you’re in the active experience of trauma, to have to articulate your need and defend a need. You shouldn’t have to assert to other people that your need is valuable at that point.RachelRight, you shouldn’t have to defend it. Even just thinking over the past year and a half with COVID, there is some subset of people who have coped by eating, and there is some subset of people who have coped by restricting. And we don’t name the restriction as harmful. We praise it when really, restriction weakens your immune system and makes you more vulnerable to stress and the impact of stress. But instead, what we say is, oh, if somebody is restricting and losing weight, that that’s a positive thing. We don’t name the harm of it, where, you know, eating to cope actually makes a lot of sense. And is way more beneficial than restricting.VirginiaBecause that’s at least meeting a physical need. It’s getting you through. Absolutely.So, we see the weight stigma showing up in the active trauma space, and as people are kind of navigating coping strategies. And then we also see it, you know, I don’t want to say after, because of course, trauma can be a long unfolding process, but in terms of how these fat bodies are then pathologized by the world, right? So talk a little bit about what is often the approach to when, you know, whether it’s in eating disorder treatment, or in trauma therapy, in general, when you know, providers encounter someone in a bigger body, and the focus goes to weight loss, and why that is not actually going to help with the healing from the trauma.RachelWhat I often hear and see from clients is, there’s two paths that come up the most: I see clients who went to therapy, are in a fat body, and the provider made an assumption that because they’re fat, they must have had trauma, without even assessing or asking questions. And then there’s clients who do connect their fatness to trauma, and so they have gone to therapy, wanting to talk about their trauma history, and sometimes also starting out in therapy saying, and I would like to lose weight, or just not even focusing at all on body size, but just wanting to talk about their trauma. And what happens is that therapists then say, “Well, yes, we can work on your trauma. And if we work on your trauma, then you’ll lose weight.” Because if we’ve decided that eating in response to trauma lead to weight gain, then the belief is, if we heal your trauma, then your eating is gonna change, and you’ll release the weight. That’s the word that comes up.VirginiaThat phrase is really yucky.RachelIt seems to be the one that my clients hear quite frequently. People are in fat bodies for endless reasons. There are so many different reasons, and we don’t need to know them in order to know that promoting weight loss is harmful. It doesn’t matter if somebody is fat because of trauma, or for any of the other reasons that influence body size. It’s not like diets differentiate, that one diet says, okay, this person had trauma, so, this diet is effective.VirginiaI can totally see the trauma diet becoming some new creepy trend on Instagram: Intermittent fasting to heal your inner child or something.It’s just so missing the point because it’s not helping people work on, you know, processing what’s really happened to them or figuring out what they really need. It’s like solving this problem that’s, as you say, possibly related, possibly even completely unrelated, and not actually a problem at all. And giving them this other thing to focus on and then measure their “success” based on whether they can control it or not. RachelI think it’s so important to name really clearly that fatness is not the trauma. Weight stigma is a trauma, and clients have all kinds of other traumas that they’re coming in with. But fatness is not the trauma, and trying to you know “fix fatness” is actually re-traumatizing. So if somebody is coming in, and a therapist is saying, '“Okay, I’m going to help you with your trauma, and I’m going to help you lose weight,” they’re actually re-traumatizing somebody who’s already been through significant trauma.VirginiaSo where do you think that sort of line of thinking in the provider community is coming from? I mean, why? Why is that an accepted practice when it’s so clearly causing harm? RachelIt’s an important question. I think some of it is that providers are still being trained in really stigmatizing programs. I don’t think people are learning about the impact of anti-fat bias and weight stigma. I think, unfortunately, a lot of providers haven’t done their own work around it, so they may still be trying to suppress their own weight or still trying to diet in their own life. As providers, we’re always going to be in process. It’s not that, you know, as a therapist, you suddenly get to this place where you’ve worked through everything.But I think if we haven’t done our own work around weight stigma and our relationship with our body, then we are likely to harm clients that are coming in wanting to address those issues. I think the trauma field still supports this, I think some of it comes from the eating disorder field. But I think a lot of it comes from the trauma field. If you read some of the main books about trauma, this narrative is written about, and they are not HAES-informed books. So if you don’t already have some footing in Health at Every Size, and you’re looking for a trauma book to read, or to learn about, that narrative is going to be reinforced.VirginiaIt also makes me think about how much our internalized vision of healthy or recovered or happy is intrinsically linked to thinness, so if someone achieves weight loss—however temporary that’s likely to be, and no matter what they have to do in order to achieve it—we’re going to view that as “success,” because that narrative is so embedded in our culture. And we’re not going to look deeper than that, we’re not going to see that that isn’t actually dealing with the underlying issues.Do you think there’s a degree to which the underlying stuff feels harder, you know, that it’s that work that might be scarier to people? And going on a diet feels like, well, this is what I can control. So let me do that.RachelAbsolutely. I mean, I think that all of us have been socialized to believe that weight is under our control. And that if we can just find the right diet and lose weight, then it’s going to solve other problems. And there’s so many providers who reinforce that.VirginiaAnd the science that’s getting done is reinforcing this, too. I mean, I was looking at a couple of studies that were done recently on adverse childhood experiences, and they are all trying to document this phenomenon. One is called “Adverse childhood experiences are associated with an increased risk of obesity and early adolescence.” (I apologize for using the O-word, I’m quoting the fatphobic research.) And there are several others I’ll link to in the transcript. It seems like the goal of this research is to say, we should worry about childhood trauma because people might get fat from it, as if that is the outcome we’re worried about, not the trauma.I’m curious for your thoughts on that research, I think we see the similar thing happening in research on childhood poverty and childhood hunger. Like if fat is the outcome, then it’s really bad.RachelI think that we want to believe that research is objective and neutral. And the truth is that it’s not. The questions that are being asked in these research studies are inherently biased. And so they are asking a question that they think they know the answer to. I would love to sit down with somebody like Deb Burgard or somebody who’s really great at pulling through statistics, because just glancing at this research, I’m not sure that there’s actually a difference between the percentage of kids who are in higher weight bodies in this study where they’re connecting it to adverse childhood experiences, and just the percentage of kids who are in higher weight bodies in general.VirginiaOh, that's interesting. Yeah.RachelSo I’d be really curious for somebody who’s really great at statistics to kind of pull all of that apart.VirginiaYeah, because if it’s like we’re trying, what it feels like, in a way is that they’re looking at the “childhood obesity epidemic.” They’re saying kids are in bigger bodies now, let’s find this explanation for it. And then that’s a way of pathologizing the fact that kids come in different sizes. Then you’ve decided, all those kids are traumatized or broken in some way. Now, you’ve explained it to yourself. Just yeah, that’s a pretty fatphobic way of going about the problem.RachelRight. And it’s like you said, I mean: You’re identifying fatness as the problem, like, how about if we identify the problem is that so many kids have childhood trauma? This idea that, a kid’s coming in and identifying that they’ve had a history of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and the thing that these studies are worried about is fatness?!It’s just so harmful. And it’s scary that this is how we’re responding to kids’ body size and to trauma, that the thing that these studies are focused on and asking questions about is how do we make kids not be in bigger bodies? And ignoring like, how do we protect kids from being physically and sexually abused? VirginiaRight, right. It’s a really similar thing that played out in childhood hunger research, which was like, in order to get funding and attention on childhood hunger and childhood poverty, there was a huge effort to document the connections to higher weight. And it’s like, do I really need to explain to you, that you should care about kids being hungry? You needed some other outcome—you needed to make it about fatness? In order to care about this problem? We couldn’t just care about feeding hungry kids? It’s mind blowing. And it feels very similar.This also feels very tied to the older conversation about whether “obesity” should be classified as a disease. And, a lot of folks who were in favor of that argued that it would reduce stigma, if we could understand high body weight as a “chronic condition” because you would understand that it was beyond people’s control, and they needed intervention and support. That has definitely not been the result of classifying obesity as a disease. We know that it has only furthered weight stigma, and it feels like a similar parallel here that if we’re trying to understand weight as always trauma related. You could argue that that’s a way of increasing empathy. But it doesn’t seem like that’s how that conversation plays out.RachelYeah, I am fascinated by this kind of line of thinking. I really am curious about who thought it was a good idea to classify body size as a disease. And like, how they convinced themselves that that was actually going to decrease stigma or not pathologize people. I understand the narrative they’re telling themselves but I would love to dig deeper and really pick apart like, what actually is going through their mind when they thought that that was a good idea.Of course labeling body size as a disease was not going decrease stigma. I think, first of all, it contributes to the idea, like when we think disease states, we think of something that requires treatment. And so then you’re reinforcing that body size needs some sort of intervention. So naming it as a disease is not going to reduce the stigma in the culture, like we actually have to address the stigma and not try to find creative ways to describe body size, and pretend that that’s actually going to be the thing that’s beneficial. We have to find ways to reduce stigma. I’m just sick in general of our need to pathologize these expected and typical responses to being in a body, and being in a culture that harms bodies. I think this happens with lots of different diagnoses. I don’t think this is unique to labeling body sizes as disease, but I think we’ve just got to get away from pathologizing people and name the problem in the culture and you know, in the environment, instead of saying that body size is the problem.VirginiaCompletely agree. And on the other side of this conversation, what we sort of started touching on in the beginning that I just want to hit on quickly, before we wrap up, is that it makes it harder for people to talk about what’s happened to them, because they’re worried if they own their full story, that they’re going to be pathologized for their weight. And I do sometimes feel within the Health at Every Size community, we don’t do a great job of making space for this story, right? Because we’re so quick to fight against the pathologizing. Then I hear from folks in fat bodies that feel like, I’m not allowed to be a fat person with health problems here. So I don’t know if you have any thoughts about that, because I’m sure you sort of see that tension, often.RachelTotally. And it makes sense to me, I understand why that’s the reaction from the Health at Every Size community. When you’ve been oppressed for so long, and there’s such a difficult time holding nuance within the larger environment, that anytime there’s a narrative, that there’s a fear it’s going to increase oppression or marginalization, of course, people want to defend and protect against it. So it makes a lot of sense to me. But what it does create is this reinforcing of stigma and it silences people. And we want to do the opposite within the Health at Every Size community, we want everybody’s story to be able to be told. So I think we have to be able to hold space for these conversations. Because, one, they’re true, right? Like this is real. These narratives are true and real. There’s a ton of nuance within the research around, you know, fatness and health conditions that we need to be able to talk about. And when we don’t talk about them, we prevent people from getting help with the things that there actually are interventions for, and weight loss is not one of them. If somebody in a fat body can’t talk about whatever health conditions they might be dealing with, then how are they going to get appropriate interventions for whatever those health conditions are? So we’ve got to be able to talk about it. VirginiaThat makes total sense. And I am so grateful for how you articulate this nuance. Thank you so much for your work and for being here.RachelThanks for having me on for these hard conversations.Virginia They are hard but they’re really important and I hope it helps people feel more seen in their own experiences and more like they can own their stories.Thank you all so much for listening to Burnt Toast! If you like this episode and you aren’t yet subscribed, please do so. If you are a subscriber, thank you so much for being here. And please consider sharing Burnt Toast on social media or forwarding it to a friend.Burnt Toast transcripts and essays are edited and formatted by Jessica McKenzie, who writes the fantastic Substack, Pinch of Dirt. Our logo is by Deanna Lowe. And I’m Virginia Sole-Smith. You can find more of my work at virginiasolesmith.com or come say hi on Instagram and Twitter. I’m @v_solesmith. I’m barely on Facebook anymore, so don’t worry about that. Thanks for listening and talk to you soon! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe

Our Culture Crush team has gotten into the groove of making great matches. We used to say that the matching was like great wine and cheese, but this time it was more like great soup and a bread bowl (get it?). Katie Wall from CutlureBiz and Louis Basile from Wildflower Bread Company was a great pairing to discuss the importance of growing company culture in a way that is intentional, consistent, and fun. Whether you are bringing a blow horn to a meeting or starting your meeting off with a facilitated game (from CultureBiz), it is important to bring a level of play into the workplace. This episode is great for all audiences to listen to. If you are in leadership trying to improve meetings and overall participation and morale of your team- you should listen in. If you are determining the various ways to improve company culture- then listen in. If you are wondering how easy it is to improve company culture, it's not- so listen in. If you are looking for another resource to help grow the culture of your team- listen in? If you are looking for another great company in Arizona to support or work for-you should listen in. Wildflower is a local Arizona fast casual restaurant chain that believes success comes down to three things — outstanding food, great service, and clean restaurants. It is easy to say, but it takes a strong commitment to executing consistently. Attention to detail, putting the customers' needs first, and a deep desire to be a great company help make the Wildflower a place where customers want to be. Louis J. Basile Jr. is the Founder & President of Wildflower and has worked in the restaurant industry since his childhood growing up in Union, NJ. His father owned a local luncheonette in East Orange, NJ, where he learned the restaurant business. At the beginning of his career, Mr. Basile served as a Construction Project Manager, renovating existing steak houses into Cisco Café Mexican Restaurants for the Chart House/Cork n' Cleaver Corporation. In 1981 Mr. Basile joined a three-store chain called Au Bon Pain (Boston, MA), an upscale quick service restaurant and bakery. Louis was a key Senior Manager who helped Au Bon Pain grow to over 250 Stores during his tenure. Mr. Basile held numerous Senior Management positions, including Vice President of Operations, Construction, Research & Development, and Domestic & International Franchising. Mr. Basile and his family moved to Arizona in 1994. Before following his dream to create his own fast casual restaurant and bakery concept, Mr. Basile held the position of President/COO of the Coffee Plantation (Tempe, AZ). Mr. Basile founded the Wildflower in Scottsdale, AZ, in 1995. The first Wildflower opened in November 1996. Today, he oversees multiple restaurant locations and a growing, fresh dough Central Production Facility as well as a wholesale bread division operating throughout Greater Phoenix and Northern Arizona. Wildflower Bread Company is part of the fastest growing segment in hospitality called Fast Casual. Wildflower prides itself on delivering the most memorable restaurant bakery experience and impacting its local communities through various charitable outreach programs. In recognition of these efforts, Wildflower was awarded the 2018 Restaurant Neighbor Award by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Mr. Basile started and was Chairman of the Fast-Casual Industry Council, an affiliate of the National Restaurant Association. Louis is a National Restaurant Association Board Member. He is a past Chairman of the Arizona Restaurant Association and Arizona Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Louis serves as a Board Director for Child Crisis Arizona. Mr. Basile served on the Advisory Board for People Report/Black Box Intelligence and PeopleMatter. Louis is a founding member of Changers of Commerce, a movement of leaders who believe there is a better way of practicing Capitalism. Louis is married to Tracy Basile, and they have three children Zachary, Jessie, and Max. Follow Wildflower on Facebook. TheCultureBiz is on a mission to help teams cultivate their unique cultures through play, with pre-packaged crates and interactive workshops that are approachable, affordable, and original. Created in October 2019 by Colorado-based entrepreneurs Katie Wall and Courtney Jacobson, TheCultureBiz inspires connection and culture building at work with play. Cultivating a cohesive, psychologically safe, and productive workplace culture means focusing first and foremost on the specific individuals on your team. Their products and services are perfect for culture building at retreats, team meetings, and conferences. Play is proven to relieve stress, improve brain function, boost creativity, provide energy and bring us closer to others. Make meetings matter with TheCultureBiz. Now…go play! Katie Wall, TheCultureBiz CEO, is a certified and accomplished facilitator with over 14 years of experience creating meaningful engagements for all participants. Her background in experiential learning and expertise in play helps teams connect, ideate, and design more efficiently and effectively, generating participant consensus, leveraging the expertise in the room, and driving toward practical application. Katie has experience working with nonprofit and for-profit teams, with expertise in culture and team development, DE&I, strategic planning, human-centered design, arts integration, trauma informed care, conflict resolution, leadership team development, and innovative design. Katie has a BFA in Theatre Performance from The University of Colorado-Boulder and is certified in facilitation and Design Thinking. She is an advocate for collaboration, inclusivity, and psychological safety in every workshop. Katie lives in Denver, CO, with her husband, her two children, and a very destructive fur baby. Follow TheCultureBiz on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Can a franchisee succeed as a franchisor? This week's episode of the Restaurant Business podcast “A Deeper Dive” features Tabbassum Mumtaz, CEO of Ampex Brands, and Ericka Garza, brand president for its latest acquisition, Au Bon Pain. The two talk about what it takes for an operator to take over operations for an entire brand. A lot of franchisees have been buying up brands lately, taking advantage of favorable market conditions to add entire concepts to their collections. Ampex operates hundreds of Yum Brands and 7-11 locations and recently acquired Au Bon Pain from Panera Bread. Mumtaz talks about the experience of owning a brand after years operating restaurants for other brands. Garza, meanwhile, talks about the priorities for the brand itself and what it will take for the concept to succeed. Garza is a former franchising executive with Pizza Hut.

Ampex Brands recently acquired bakery-café chain Au Bon Pain from Panera Bread, becoming a franchisor for the first time in its 16-year history and expanding its footprint internationally. Ampex Brands CFO Eric Easton and Jayne Juvan, M&A Chair at Ampex's law firm Tucker Ellis, discuss how it all went down.

Not one, not two, but SIX restaurant chains are being sold right now. With a lot of market activity occurring around chain restaurants, what better time to take a look at how this will affect the industry than now? On this episode of the Happy Mouth podcast, restaurateur Philip Camino and chef Nyesha Arrington delve into the recent buying of these chains and what factors likely led to these purchases. They also discuss the impacts this may bring about for the industry. Listen to Philip and Nyesha discuss the recent buying of chain restaurants: Since SweetGreen and Krispy Kreme deals, 6 more deals have been announced. June 24th: Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken is being sold to Artemis Lane Partners. June 25th: BBQ Holdings plans to purchase Village Inn and Bakers Square for $13.5 million. Fat Brands plans to acquire Global Franchise Group for $442.5 million. June 30th: Panera will sell Au Bon Pain to the Ampex Brands Family of Companies. July 1st: The largest franchisee of Jack in the Box will buy Taco Cabana for $85 million. July 2nd: Logan's RoadHouse will buy J. Alexander's and sister concepts for $220 million. Causes: Operator fatigue, increased sales, long-time deals, and low interest rates. Links: Happy Mouth Podcast Instagram Restaurant Business - Everybody is Buying Chains Right Now Restaurant Business - Logan's Roadhouse Parent Agrees to Buy J. Alexander's for $220M Restaurant Business - Jack In The Box's Largest Franchisee Agrees to Buy Taco Cabana for $85M Restaurant Business - Panera Bread Sella Au Bon Pan to a Yum Brands Franchisee Restaurant Business - Johnny Rockets Owner Is Buying Global Franchise Group for $442.5M Restaurant Business - Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken to be Sold to Artemis Lane Partners Restaurant Business - Famous Dave's Parent is Buying Village Inn and Bakers Square We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out our other shows: Full Comp The Happy Mouth Morning Show Restaurant Marketing School The Playbook

Ampex Brands acquires the iconic lunch spot Au Bon Pain from Panera, with plans to invest in big improvements to the chain's existing locations. https://edge.winmo.com/hubnews/articles/33670 Also, the emerging food delivery platform Hungryroot attracts a Series C funding round as they hire a new CMO. https://edge.winmo.com/hubnews/articles/33669

Episode 112! The Biz Bites N' More Podcast covers the recent Chinese based ride hailing company as DiDi just IPO'd at a massive valuation. Lime unveils a Electric Moped and you know.... what could go wrong? Finally Ampex buys struggling bakery-café chain Au Bon Pain to try and revive this sucker. $YUM $DIDI #Comedy #Business Blog: bizbitesnmore.com Twitter: @bizbitesnmore Facebook: @bizbitesnmore YouTube: Biz Bites N' More Leave a voice message on anchor or leave a five star review on Apple and we will read it aloud/listen to it on the pod! VM: https://anchor.fm/biz-bites-n-more/message --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/biz-bites-n-more/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/biz-bites-n-more/support

Panera is selling Au Bon Pain again, DoorDash acknowledges that most customers would rather order directly from a restaurant, and Jack in the Box is reversing its refranchising push of the last 30 years.

One Day with Me กับ Dr.Supachai   มาทำความรู้จัก "ดร.ศุภชัย สุขะนินทร์ " หรือ "ดร.ซิดนีย์" นักธุรกิจคนเก่ง และผู้บริหารแห่ง บริษัท ไฟว์เวล จำกัด (FIVEWHALE : หลักสูตรผู้บริหารระดับสูง)   เจ้าของธุรกิจด้านอาหารแบรนด์ดัง ไม่ว่าจะเป็น Greyhound, Au Bon Pain, Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robins  ในสาขาประเทศไทย   มาตามติดชีวิตกันหน่อยว่า นักธุรกิจและผู้บริหารแบบ "ดร.ซิดนีย์" นั้นเค้าทำอะไรบ้างใน 1 วัน จะว่าง จะยุ่ง จะมี Life Style แบบไหน ตามไปดูกัน !!   กด Subscribe กด Like กันด้วยน้าาา   #lifestyle​ #day​ #businessman​ #drsupachai #drsidney #fivewhale​ #sidneytalks #bangkok​ #thailand

This episode's guest: Anthony Amunategui of CDO Group, Inc.Mike and Brian are joined by Anthony Amunategui, Founder of CDO Group, Inc. Starting in college painting houses, Banana Republics, and Discovery Zones - he was discovered, at a Discovery Zone of all places, by a Project Manager for his extreme efficiency and craftsmanship as a painter. That led to a paid trip for an interview to Chicago for a Junior Coordinator position. He got the job, was given a company credit card, and was paid to travel to places like Puerta Rico, California, and Hawaii and he was hooked! In addition, their team dramatically lessened the time to build these Discovery Zone playgrounds to just under 7 days! He was able to take what he learned to Boston Chicken (known now as Boston Market), Einstein Bagels, Au Bon Pain, and Panera Bread - and in all these cases, he did so well that he literally built himself out of a job. And that's how the idea of an outsourced construction management group was conceived and CDO Group was formed. With clients like Hampton Inn & Suites, McDonalds, TGI Friday's, Kate Spade, Gap, Mac Cosmetics, Ann Taylor, and Dunkin' Brands, you can easily see how Anthony was able to make CDO Group a highly sought after company. His genuine enthusiasm and love for construction, new concepts, empowering people, and daily seek after self improvement has fascinated us and we think it will do the same for you. If you're looking to shatter that glass ceiling that's holding you back, this is your episode! 

This week, our host Will Guidara, talks with his dad, Frank Guidara, as we wrap up our theme of Grit. Frank has held numerous positions in the hospitality industry, including President of Restaurant Associates, President and CEO of The Wolfgang Puck Food Company, and CEO of both Au Bon Pain and Pizzeria UNO. However, its his personal experiences as a father, husband, and cancer survivor that really bring to light some remarkable stories of Grit. Echoing his speech from the 2017 Welcome Conference, Frank reminds us all that adversity is a terrible thing to waste. The Welcome Conference is going digital and we're hosting a range of content for free over the course of the next few months. Register for free at virtual.welcomeconference.org.

สำหรับการเปลี่ยนชื่อของ Au Bon Pain เป็น “อุบลพรรณ” ตามมาด้วย Baskin-Robbins ก็เปลี่ยนชื่อเป็น “บักขิ่น” ปัง ไม่ปัง วันนี้ www.ThaiFranchiseCenter.com มีข้อมูลมานำเสนอให้ทราบ คลิก! https://bit.ly/3mdqa1q . อัพเดทและติดตามข่าวสารได้ที่ Line : @thaifranchise Twitter : @thaifranchise Website : www.thaifranchisecenter.com Instagram : instagram.com/thaifranchise Tiktok : www.tiktok.com/@thaifranchisecenter YouTube : youtube.com/user/ThaiFranchise Podcast : @thaifranchisecenter

กระแสตอบรับหลังเปลี่ยนจาก Au Bon Pain เป็น อุบลพรรณ เป็นอย่างไรบ้างวันนี้ www.ThaiFranchiseCenter.com มีข้อมูลมาฝากคลิก! https://bit.ly/3k30eDV . อัพเดทและติดตามข่าวสารได้ที่ Line : @thaifranchise Twitter : @thaifranchise Website : www.thaifranchisecenter.com Instagram : instagram.com/thaifranchise Tiktok : www.tiktok.com/@thaifranchisecenter YouTube : youtube.com/user/ThaiFranchise Podcast : @thaifranchisecenter

In this episode of The Barron Report, host Paul Barron sits down with Louis Basile, the president and co-founder of the Arizona-based restaurant and bakery Wildflower Bread Company. Basile has previously served in senior management positions for a number of companies, including Au Bon Pain and Coffee Plantation.Basile co-founded Wildflower Bread Company with his wife, Tracy, in 1995. The chain has since expanded to sixteen locations situated throughout Arizona. Barron and Basile discuss the communication strategies, marketing techniques, and contingency plans Wildflower is implementing to handle the impact of coronavirus.

In the early 1980s, Ron Shaich bought a small, struggling Boston bakery chain called Au Bon Pain, and built it out to 250 locations nationwide. Ron then saw an opportunity to build something even bigger: Panera Bread. It was the start of "fast casual" – a new kind of eating experience, between fast food and restaurant dining. Today, Panera Bread has over 2,000 stores, and $5 billion in annual sales. PLUS, for our postscript "How You Built That," we check back with Lisa Dalton, who turned a relationship mishap into a game-changing braille label that solves a daily problem for blind consumers.

With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Heeley has overseen many leading brands across the fast casual industry. Prior to joining Veggie Grill in 2014, Mr. Heeley was President and CEO of Earl of Sandwich, LLC, an international, high-volume fast casual sandwich brand. During his tenure, Steve spearheaded the company’s 30 percent annual growth. Before his success at Earl of Sandwich, Mr. Heeley served as COO of Au Bon Pain café bakery, led operations for Los Angeles-based The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and served as COO of Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, where he was instrumental in the brand’s growth to over 300 restaurants and the company’s sale to Wendy's International Inc. Previously, Heeley was President and CEO of the San Francisco-based SIMCO Group, a multi-unit restaurant and retail operator. Steve started his professional career at the full service Mexican restaurant El Torito, where he advanced through the ranks at the company to assume a leadership role. In Mr. Heeley’s free time, he likes to spend time with his children, travel while exploring veggie food and culture in restaurants around the world, distance cycling, volunteering with at-risk youth, track racing, real estate investing and fixing.

Full Article - https://medium.com/@david.paykin/au-bon-pain-detailed-f0a98aee7953 Quick Guide - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cfFt3b1dnc0uZEa9DPqSsl8PhiHhWcwV2v0-oKtASFE/edit?usp=sharing Detailed Notes - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lnc6RK3hqmOnl1MLew4jfWhHne_nSM6rwMChTYrKi_w/edit?usp=sharing All Articles - https://medium.com/@david.paykin/complete-fast-food-guide-ca950d4d1bca --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpaykin Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.paykin Twitter: http://twitter.com/dpayki2

How does a restaurant vision come to life? In this podcast, we go inside the minds of CoreLife Eatery's President, Scott Davis, and Director of Off-Premise Business, Nicole Jackson. Scott and Nicole talk about the different phases of developing a successful restaurant concept, from creating a menu to engaging customers at different touchpoints. Scott Davis is President of CoreLife Eatery and has spent nearly forty years in the restaurant industry. He formerly served as Chief Concept Officer and Executive Vice President for Panera Bread and also worked at Au Bon Pain and Carrols Corporation, which owns and operates over 800 restaurants under the Burger King brand. Nicole Jackson is CoreLife Eatery's Director of Off-Premise Business. She's spent the past decade leading sales teams and growing the catering business of brands including Boston Market and Panera Bread.

This is a conversation with Steve Heeley, the CEO of Veggie Grill. Before that, Steve led Operations for Baja Fresh, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Collector’s Cafe, and Au Bon Pain. He was also the CEO of Earl of Sandwich. Veggie Grill is a fast-growing fast-casual vegan restaurant serving only plant-based food. Forbes called them one of the 25 most innovative consumer brands in 2016. Enjoy!

In the early 1980s, Ron Shaich bought a small, struggling Boston bakery chain called Au Bon Pain, and built it out to 250 locations nationwide. Ron then saw an opportunity to build something even bigger: Panera Bread. It was the start of "fast casual" – a new kind of eating experience, between fast food and restaurant dining. Today, Panera Bread has over 2,000 stores, and $5 billion in annual sales. Plus, for our postscript "How You Built That," how Tyson Walters got so tired of his St. Bernard shedding everywhere that he created the Shed Defender, a zip-up body suit for dogs that captures loose hair.

“You should talk more and smile. It’s my favorite.” Susan Pass — best known on the internet as “Susan Runs” and as the blogger behind “Nurse on the Run” — is a 15-time marathoner who holds a 3:18 personal best time. Susan is currently in school to become a nurse anesthetist — a career path she decided on after majoring in dietetics and going on to nursing school, then working in a burn unit in New York City for 7.5 years. Here’s what you’ll get in this episode: • How Susan started running (4:05) • Susan’s history with injuries, surgeries, and a labral tear (6:11) • What the first run back after double hip surgery felt like (10:28) • Susan’s first marathon experience (11:55) • Susan’s current running goals (14:05) • How Susan became a nurse — and what she thought she wanted to do before deciding on nursing (14:30) • How Susan decided on a nursing specialty (16:00) • What it’s like working in a burn unit (22:25) • What it’s like working the night shift at a hospital (25:15) • Why Susan decided to go back to school and what her current 27-month program is like (28:10) • How Susan balances a demanding job and schooling with running (33:50) • Susan’s craziest nursing story (38:00) • What it takes to be a good patient (41:45) • Susan’s take on being an introvert (46:00) What We Mention on this Episode: Eugene Marathon: https://www.eugenemarathon.com/ TCS New York City Marathon: https://www.tcsnycmarathon.org/ New Jersey Marathon: https://www.thenewjerseymarathon.com/ Susan’s 2013 New Jersey Marathon recap: http://www.susanruns.com/2013/05/08/2013-new-jersey-marathon-race-report/ Chicago Marathon: https://www.chicagomarathon.com/ Marine Corps Marathon: http://www.marinemarathon.com/ Hal Higdon Marathon Training Plan: http://www.halhigdon.com/ Boston Marathon: http://www.baa.org/ University of Maryland: https://www.umd.edu/ Rush University: https://www.rushu.rush.edu/ Burn Unit: Saving Lives After the Flames: https://www.amazon.com/Burn-Unit-Saving-Lives-Flames/dp/0306814196 Au Bon Pain: https://www.aubonpain.com/ Mount Sinai: http://www.mountsinai.org/ Pura Vida: https://puravidaspa.com/ Big Sur International Marathon: http://www.bsim.org/ Follow Susan: Instagram @susanruns: https://www.instagram.com/susanruns/ Twitter @susanruns: https://twitter.com/susanruns Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nurseontherun Blog: http://www.susanruns.com/ Follow Ali: Instagram @aliontherun1: https://www.instagram.com/aliontherun1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aliontherun/ Twitter @aliontherun1: https://twitter.com/aliontherun1 Blog: http://www.aliontherunblog.com/ Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/13333410 Thank you for listening to and supporting the Ali on the Run Show! If you’re enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Spread the run love!

By the time he was 24, Scott Davis was working as a manager at Au Bon Pain with soon to be CEO of Panera, Ron Shaik. He helped evolve Au Bon Pain into Panera Bread and there spent 25 years as the chief concept officer. Through his years of experience with one of America’s most widely known brands, he has learned many lessons which he carried over into his position as the president of Corelife Eatery. Some of the most important lessons being that, as a company, you must always be ready for a change. Customers are always looking for something new. Today it’s about fresh, healthy and clean. But as this new trend was coming to be, Panera and its high-quality offering noticed that while customers were coming to them for great food, they were also coming for the atmosphere. Something that hasn’t seemed to change. Listen in to this episode of Foodable’s Emerging Brands Podcast Series to hear more about what customers are looking for and how your brand can provide the best product and experience.

First go at a fiction episode. Unscripted fiction. A story, or the beginning of a story, about a woman named Nina who works the morning shift at Au Bon Pain in LaGuardia Airport. Is it any good? We report, you decide, etc.

Conversation 9:  The Story, Journey and Passion of Registered Dietitian, Dorria S. Amer, MPH, RD, LDN “ I was restless because I wanted to be self employed and then I realized, well I can be. I always wanted to work for myself and I never wanted to dread Mondays. ” - Dorria S. Amer, MPH, RD, LDN My conversation today is with Dorria S. Amer, MPH, RD, LDN As I have set out on a quest to meet registered dietitians, I decided I would make it a priority whenever I go to a new city, I would meet up with registered dietitians from this location. I headed to New Orleans in October of this year and had the great opportunity to meet Dorria Samer. Dorria graciously opened up her beautiful shotgun home up to me and we had a great conversation on her comfy couch. Dorria has had a fascinating career so far as a registered dietitian with family roots and first job out of college in California, an internship and next career moves taking place in Boston, and certain events happening in her personal life leading her to her current life and career in New Orleans. Find out how her own catering business, Hurricane Katrina and Au Bon Pain had a big part in her registered dietitian journey. Dorria lives by the mantra of “not dreading Monday” and has worked in or created jobs to fit this positive life goal. I hope you are inspired by her as much as I am. Please enjoy my conversation with Dorria. Links from the Conversation Connect with Dorria by Email Veterinarian 4-H University of California-Davis Quantity Food Production Food Sanitation Brigham and Women’s Hospital Dietetic Internship Mayo Clinic Dietetic Internship Acute Care Hospital Burn Unit Nutrition Support Team Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Head Start

In this episode we discuss: why helping others and your community should be a part of your purpose; the power of being curious, and getting outside you comfort zone; why its important to know where you want to go with your business early on and why you need a clear vision on how to get there; Hiring A+ workers; Creating culture; why its important to have solid legal advice when starting. Louis Basile is one of the most passionate leaders in the restaurant industry. He grew up in a family owned restaurant in New Jersey. Previously, Mr. Basile worked for the Chart House and Au Bon Pain. He founded The Wildflower Bread Company in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1995. Wildflower operates multiple restaurants and fresh dough Central Production Facility. Wildflower is an award winning fast casual brand that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. On top of all of this Mr. Basile is extremely active in multiple trade associations. Basile started and was Chairman of the Fast Casual Industry Council an affiliate of the National Restaurant Association. Mr. Basile is a National Restaurant Association Board Member and the Vice Chairman of the Nominating Committee. He is the Chairman of the Arizona Restaurant Association Educational Foundation and the immediate past Chairman of the Arizona Restaurant Association. Louis is a Board Director for Crisis Nursery. Mr. Basile serves on the Advisory Board for People Report/Black Box Intelligence and PeopleMatter. Louis is a founding member of Changers of Commerce a movement of leaders who believe there is a better way of practicing Capitalism.  

Chief Executive Office and President of Au Bon Pain, Sue Morelli, discusses the business of running a hugely successful restaurant.