The discussions were triggered during the conference’s
opening round of cocktail parties by mentions of industry leadership and how
it’s changing. In 32 years of attending the show, I can’t recall that topic
ever arising. Yet if there was the equivalent of a water-cooler topic on Night
One of the show, it had to be the state of the CEO office.
There’s a sense out there that the business no longer
abounds in the colorful entrepreneurs who started at the drink or fry station and
worked their way up to a private jet and executive assistant. Wistfully
mentioned were such bygone examples as Dave Thomas, Joe Lee and, cited more
often than anyone, Ray Kroc, the onetime blender salesman.
The consensus: Chain management has become more professional
and sophisticated, but we’ve lost something unique to the business in the
process. There are fewer stars out there with ketchup in their veins.
From there, it was a short hop to bemoaning the short-term
dollars-and-cents mentality that many private-equity companies prefer in
the management they put atop an acquisition. There’s a conviction, at least
among tonight’s revelers, that those leaders tend to think flatly of tomorrow’s
financial returns, not next year’s or the next decade's. It’s like squeezing as much milk from
the cow as you can today, even if it that leaves the animal dry tomorrow.
The most critical observers wondered aloud about the
longterm implications for the business. What they didn’t mention was how few of
those financial hard-noses were attending the show to learn about the business
and how best to manage their charge.
Random
observations: Burn appears to be the new hot ingredient in cocktails, judging from the drinks that were moving at last night's events. Habanero and chili peppers flavorings figured large in the drinks I dutifully sampled for research purposes, and fellow researchers observed that they’re
finding more of those kicked-up selections whenever they do field work at finer
bars and restaurants.
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