One of the downsides of my job is watching the very public divorce
of a chain and a top executive whose proven abilities have earned your respect
for years. Few of those breaks have been as painful to witness as Wednesday’s parting
of Cosi and its CEO for just a short stretch, Carin Stutz.
It’s dismaying because of what Stutz gave up to take the
job—a shot at the loftiest posts of a multi-billion-dollar operation—but hardly
surprising. Reviving the one-time poster-concept for fast-casual made a
comeback of Vanilla Ice seem like a lay-up. The concept had been rushed into an
IPO before it was consistently profitable, and has wandered since. The
buildings are operational challenges, the menu is confusing, and opportunities
like selling a better cup of coffee have been squandered. Even the floor
doesn’t look or feel too good in many stores.
A few weeks ago, Stutz unveiled an ambitious and extremely detailedplan for invigorating sales and bolstering profits. “After months of
practice and trial,” Stutz told shareholders at the time, “we finally figured
it out.”
Her remedies for reversing a sales and
profit slide extended to a new kitchen set-up for moving customers through the
Chipotle-like prep line faster and more smoothly. She also detailed plans to
offer a gluten-free bowl, and the adoption of more natural products, like a
chicken that actually cost less than the inferior-sounding version it will
replace. Clearly few aspects of the brand hadn’t been questioned, prompting
many to be tagged for tweaks, adjustments or complete overhaul.
It was a long, long to-do list that
would clearly take time. But either the board didn’t want to wait, or Stutz
grew tired of mounting such a moon shot. In any case, it wasn’t a pleasant
ending. Divorce, modern-day restaurant style.
The irony is how few people could boast of Stutz’s
qualifications assuming a rebuilt like that. She has grown up in the business,
rising through operations posts first in Wendy’s, then in Applebee’s. Many of
us pegged her as potentially the next CEO of Applebee’s. But then the chain was
sold to IHOP, and Stutz was considering new career paths.
She was recruited by then Brinker International CEO Doug Brooks,
no operations slouch himself, basically to bring her into that organization. According
to the grapevine, Brooks told Stutz he wanted her in the organization, and here
were the jobs that were available at that time.
First, Stutz facilitated the overseas expansion of Brinker’s
workhorse concept, Chili’s. Her later responsibilities were broadened so that
she apparently had more impact on domestic operations.
Then came the jump to Cosi, where she’d have the chance to
run her own chain.
Picking the aggrieved party in a situation like this isn’t
fair unless you have an impeccable mole inside corporate headquarters. I,
admittedly, do not. There’s also the reality that an exec’s strengths and a
chain’s immediate needs can slip out of sync. When the parent company is
public, as Cosi’s is, not much time can be provided to adjust the disparity.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment