The back-of-the-house has traditionally been the territory of a unique breed of person — a type of adrenaline addict who enjoys hard work and a fast pace and
doesn’t necessarily want to work with people who aren’t like that, too.
But some chefs leave the fast-paced but cloistered life of the kitchen and use
the skills they developed while cooking to run large restaurant companies.
In this two-part series, called “Chain of Command,” Nation’s Restaurant News
sits down with these unusual business leaders to learn why and how they made the
move from cooking to running businesses.
John T. Bettin
BY MILFORD PREWITT
While visiting the Palm restau- rant in Orlando, Fla., one Sat- urday night this year, John Bettin had a flashback to 30
years earlier, to the start of his career.
The president and chief executive of the
Palm Restaurant Group, Bettin was doing
what he does at least 10 days a month –
visiting one of the Palm’s 28 outlets to raise
employee morale, trouble-shoot operations
and probe customer satisfaction.
But during the predinner service staff
meeting when employees were introduced to
their “special visitor,” unit managers discovered that two line cooks would be out
sick that night.
Bettin’s flashback kicked in when he
threw on an apron and manned the sauté
station, the very same position he assumed
mizes the rare but successful cases of leaders who transitioned from the culinary side
of the business into the president’s suite.
Do you miss being in the kitchen?
Yes and no. I don’t miss the physical side of
the work. It’s a very, very physical job, and
I have a lot of admiration for the men and
women on our team who make sure our
kitchens work well. Whenever I’m on the
road, I make sure I stop by our units and
spend time with the kitchen crews.
What do you miss about it?
I miss being in a busy kitchen, especially on
a Saturday night.
So that’s why that Orlando visit was so
memorable?
Yes. You know, what I miss but got to experience again that night in Orlando is that
“Here’s a guy with no culinary education, no big degrees,
yet he has all of these success stories, and I say it’s
because he had great mentors and he learned from them.
He has a high work ethic, a lot of drive, native intelligence,
and I think any career track he would have followed, he
would have been successful.”
— Phil Hickey, chairman of O’Charley’s and a onetime competitor
as the former chairman of Capital Grill steakhouse chain
as a trainee when he started 30 years ago at
a Houlihan’s restaurant in Kansas City,
Mo., as a college dropout looking for work.
Not only would the sauté position become
his favorite spot on the line in a career
marked by high culinary execution, but the
chance hiring would turn out to be the start of
a 20-year career with Houlihan’s parent, the
now defunct company Gilbert/Robinson.
Bettin is now considered one of the
industry’s most successful turnaround
artists, whose Midas touch at such brands
as Darryl’s, Morton’s of Chicago, Buca di
Beppo, Potbelly and now The Palm epito-
there is a certain choreography that
emerges among crew members on a well-trained cooking line, and despite being
down two cooks, we pulled it off. We even
had 100 covers more than normal.
Never heard of a kitchen line being compared to a ballet before.
There’s no talking, just smooth execution. It
is the most interesting sight and it was great
to participate in that again. It was very cool
to move behind someone with a hot pan and
just tap them on the back to let them know.
Chefs have to have good math and account-
ing skills, but how
does that prepare
you for corporate finance?
First off, the ability
to manage and pay
for your inventory,
run specials, calculate margins and cost out
promotions while managing labor cost as
an executive chef is great training. Numbers and statistical analyses always came
easy to me, and when I was at Gilbert/
Robinson, Fred Hipp [then chairman] was
such a great mentor and coach on the
sources and uses of capital.
What made Hipp [now president and chief
executive of AMF Bowling Centers Inc.] a
good mentor in your career?
Of my 20 years at Gilbert/Robinson, I
probably worked closely with Fred for 12
of them. I was very inquisitive, and he
never seemed to tire of my questions. He
was really more of a coach. So by the time
I was promoted vice president of Darryl’s,
the first chain I led, I felt I was well-prepared for it.
What’s the part of your job today you like
the least?
Well, when you are in the executive office,
you don’t have constant interaction with
the guest and your employees, and that is
why I try to visit our restaurants as often
as possible. That’s why I always tell our
managers that they have the best jobs in
the world because there’s instant gratification. If they have a problem, they have
the latitude to solve it instantly. As a
CEO, though, I had to learn to let go, to
know that you cannot be involved as I
used to be. But whether a chef or a CEO,
both require a high levels of passion and
engagement. ■
JOHN T. BETTIN
Who else was a good mentor or friend in
the business?
Phil Hickey [chairman of O’Charley’s and
former chairman of Rare Hospitality]. We
worked together at Houlihan’s and there
came a point when, as general managers or
area managers, we’d open restaurants together and train the staffs.
Did you ever think 30 years ago you’d be
running a restaurant brand one day?
Well, I had an affinity for the restaurant
industry. I dreamt about running my own
restaurant as an indie. But not a chain. As
my career progressed at Gilbert/Robinson,
and [as] vice president of Darryl’s [I]
turned that brand around, I enjoyed that
and thought I could lead a chain.
Title: president and chief executive,
The Palm Restaurant Group, Washington,
D.C.
Birth date: Aug. 8, 1955
Birthplace: Chicago
First job after graduation: sauté cook
on the line at a Houlihan’s in Kansas
City, Mo.
Career turning point: Successfully turning around Gilbert/Robinson’s 27-unit
Darryl’s casual-dining chain as director
of operations, taking the brand from
negative-13-percent annual same-store
sales to a 14-percent year-over-year
improvement. In four years, he grew
Darryl’s systemwide sales contribution
to the company from $4.5 million to
more than $13 million.
