Norman E. Brinker has died he was 78. Brinker was the founder of Brinker International, one of the largest restaurant holding companies in North America. A prominent restaurateur, Brinker has also led such companies as Jack in the Box, Steak and Ale, Bennigan's, Burger King, and Chili's.
(1931-2009)
After Brinker had graduated from college, he took a job with a small chain of diners in San Diego, California named Oscar's. At the time, Oscars' owner Bob Peterson had also opened a second chain in the area called Jack-in-the-Box; while Brinker succeed in his position, he was eventually drawn to Peterson's growing fast food business. It was at Jack-in-the-Box that Brinker flourished, helping the business expand across the Southwestern United States. Within two years of moving over to the company, he had been elevated to the position of President of the company and amassed a 20% stake in the company. Brinker developed a close professional relationship with Peterson, taking many of his business philosophies to heart and developing the food service philosophy that he attempted to follow throughout his career. Brinker said of Peterson that "Bob Peterson was really my mentor. Everything we do here today started back then. Letting ideas rise from below, treating people right -- all of that."[1]
When Jack-in-the-Box went public in the early 1960's, Brinker sold his interest in the company and moved to Dallas, Texas with the intent to open a new business. His first endeavor was a coffee shop he named after himself, Brinks. The concept was to create a restaurant that catered to the 25-44 year-old demographic, a group that was still in the early stages of developing a taste for inexpensive fast food. The shop proved successful, and he sold it two years later. Using the proceeds from the sale, he opened a new chain in 1966 with the intent to provide an affordable steak dinner to the middle class. He called his new concept Steak & Ale.[1]
With the Steak & Ale chain, Brinker originated the concept of the modern casual dinning restaurant that is now ubiquitous in the marketplace. One of the innovations that Brinker introduced with Steak & Ale was the salad bar. Besides the novel concept of having customers leave their tables to serve themselves from a salad buffet, the Dallas-based chain also created the now common stock introduction of "Hi, my name is Dirk, and I'll be your waiter tonight."[2] These ideas were part of an over all plan to establish a restaurant that was more relaxed with a more casual atmosphere. Over the next ten years, he went on to establish a niche industry that was situated between the fast food and higher priced gourmet segments of the restaurant field. By 1976 he had taken the chain had to 109 restaurants, and had successfully introduced the American consumer to the concept of the chain restaurant. He sold then his company to Pillsbury and assumed a position in the company's restaurant division.[3]
As a part of the acquisition, Brinker was given the position executive vice president of Pillsbury's restaurant operations as well as a seat on the company's board of directors.[4] During his tenure as executive VP, Brinker over saw the creation of the company's Bennigan's chain. Bennigan's was the first in a new concept of restaurants intended to attract single people, an idea that became known by the term "fern bar".[3] As his status in Pillsbury grew, Brinker was asked to take over the operations of its main fast food chain, Burger King.
By the early 1980s, Burger King's sales had begun to fade. Brinker was tasked with turning the brand around and strengthening its position aagainst its main rival, McDonald's. One of his first acts was to innate advertising plan emphasizing that claimed Burger Kings flame broiled burgers were better and larger than its rival's. The program, arguably the first attack ads on a food chain by a competitor, was controversial in that prior to it fast food ads only made allusions to the competition in a vague manner, never mentioning them by name. McDonald's sued Burger King, their ad agency at the time the J. Walter Thompson Company and Ms. Gellar. The suit was settled the following year on undisclosed terms.[5] Despite the controversy, the ad plan boosted same store-sales when sales took off. The whole situation at the time became known as the Burger Wars.[1]
He worked for the company in this capacity until 1982 when he was promoted to president of Pillsbury's foodservice division. His new role expanded his oversight to include the company's other chains including Burger King, Quik-Wok and Poppin Fresh.[4] However his new position was short lived, in 1984 he left the company to take over a small, Dallas-based gourmet burger chain called Chili's.
Norman Brinker was born on June 3, 1931 in Denver, Colorado, as an only child. His parents, Kathryn and Eugene Brinker, later moved to a 10-acre (40,000 m2) farm in Roswell, New Mexico. As a child Norman took on odd jobs to supplement the family's modest income, creating a rabbit farm at the age of 10, managing a "120-mile-long" paper route and buying and selling horses to make ends meet for the family. In high school he attended the New Mexico Military Institute. He later served in the Navy, which brought him to San Diego, California. He later attended San Diego State University (SDSU) and graduated in 1957 at the age of 26. An avid and talented polo enthusiast, in 1952 Brinker was a member of the Olympic Equestrian team, competing in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland and later competed in the 1954 pentathlon competition at the world championships in Budapest[6][7]
In June 1955 Norman married tennis player Maureen Connolly, also known as "Little Mo". The couple shared a passion for horses. Her career ended due to a freak accident on a horse at the age of 18. The couple had two daughters, Cindy Brinker (Simmons), who was born in 1957, and Brenda Brinker (Bottum), who was born in 1959. Maureen died at the age of 34 on June 21, 1969, after a 3-year-long battle with ovarian cancer.[8] The relationship between Norman and Maureen was depicted in a 1978 telefilm, Little Mo, which starred Glynnis O'Connor as Maureen, Mark Harmon as Norman, and Anne Baxter as Maureen's mother.[9]
Brinker had a brief second marriage to a woman named Margaret, whom he divorced in 1976. They had 2 children together Christina and Mark.
On 14 February 1981 Norman married a third time, to Nancy Brinker (nee Nancy Goodman). The marriage provided Nancy with funding and an immediate network of financial and political support for the foundation dedicated to the memory of Nancy's sister Susan G. Komen, which became the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and related Komen Race for the Cure. They have one son, Eric Brinker.[10] The couple were active Bush Pioneers, wealthy donors who provided $100,000 or more of financial support for George W. Bush's presidential ambitions.[11]
On January 22, 1993, Norman was seriously injured during a polo match in a high speed collision with another rider at the West Palm Beach Polo and Hunt Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.[11] Suffering serious head injuries and in what was anticipated to be a prolonged coma, three days after the accident Norman was succeeded by Ron A. McDougall as chief executive officer of Brinker International; despite his retirement,Brinker retained the title of Chairman Emeritus.[4] Norman and Nancy subsequently divorced some years after the accident, and Nancy moved on to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary early in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2003.
In March 2003 Norman married his fourth wife, Toni Chapman.
He died on June 9, 2009 from aspiration pneumonia while on vacation in Colorado.[3]
(1931-2009)
After Brinker had graduated from college, he took a job with a small chain of diners in San Diego, California named Oscar's. At the time, Oscars' owner Bob Peterson had also opened a second chain in the area called Jack-in-the-Box; while Brinker succeed in his position, he was eventually drawn to Peterson's growing fast food business. It was at Jack-in-the-Box that Brinker flourished, helping the business expand across the Southwestern United States. Within two years of moving over to the company, he had been elevated to the position of President of the company and amassed a 20% stake in the company. Brinker developed a close professional relationship with Peterson, taking many of his business philosophies to heart and developing the food service philosophy that he attempted to follow throughout his career. Brinker said of Peterson that "Bob Peterson was really my mentor. Everything we do here today started back then. Letting ideas rise from below, treating people right -- all of that."[1]
When Jack-in-the-Box went public in the early 1960's, Brinker sold his interest in the company and moved to Dallas, Texas with the intent to open a new business. His first endeavor was a coffee shop he named after himself, Brinks. The concept was to create a restaurant that catered to the 25-44 year-old demographic, a group that was still in the early stages of developing a taste for inexpensive fast food. The shop proved successful, and he sold it two years later. Using the proceeds from the sale, he opened a new chain in 1966 with the intent to provide an affordable steak dinner to the middle class. He called his new concept Steak & Ale.[1]
With the Steak & Ale chain, Brinker originated the concept of the modern casual dinning restaurant that is now ubiquitous in the marketplace. One of the innovations that Brinker introduced with Steak & Ale was the salad bar. Besides the novel concept of having customers leave their tables to serve themselves from a salad buffet, the Dallas-based chain also created the now common stock introduction of "Hi, my name is Dirk, and I'll be your waiter tonight."[2] These ideas were part of an over all plan to establish a restaurant that was more relaxed with a more casual atmosphere. Over the next ten years, he went on to establish a niche industry that was situated between the fast food and higher priced gourmet segments of the restaurant field. By 1976 he had taken the chain had to 109 restaurants, and had successfully introduced the American consumer to the concept of the chain restaurant. He sold then his company to Pillsbury and assumed a position in the company's restaurant division.[3]
As a part of the acquisition, Brinker was given the position executive vice president of Pillsbury's restaurant operations as well as a seat on the company's board of directors.[4] During his tenure as executive VP, Brinker over saw the creation of the company's Bennigan's chain. Bennigan's was the first in a new concept of restaurants intended to attract single people, an idea that became known by the term "fern bar".[3] As his status in Pillsbury grew, Brinker was asked to take over the operations of its main fast food chain, Burger King.
By the early 1980s, Burger King's sales had begun to fade. Brinker was tasked with turning the brand around and strengthening its position aagainst its main rival, McDonald's. One of his first acts was to innate advertising plan emphasizing that claimed Burger Kings flame broiled burgers were better and larger than its rival's. The program, arguably the first attack ads on a food chain by a competitor, was controversial in that prior to it fast food ads only made allusions to the competition in a vague manner, never mentioning them by name. McDonald's sued Burger King, their ad agency at the time the J. Walter Thompson Company and Ms. Gellar. The suit was settled the following year on undisclosed terms.[5] Despite the controversy, the ad plan boosted same store-sales when sales took off. The whole situation at the time became known as the Burger Wars.[1]
He worked for the company in this capacity until 1982 when he was promoted to president of Pillsbury's foodservice division. His new role expanded his oversight to include the company's other chains including Burger King, Quik-Wok and Poppin Fresh.[4] However his new position was short lived, in 1984 he left the company to take over a small, Dallas-based gourmet burger chain called Chili's.
Norman Brinker was born on June 3, 1931 in Denver, Colorado, as an only child. His parents, Kathryn and Eugene Brinker, later moved to a 10-acre (40,000 m2) farm in Roswell, New Mexico. As a child Norman took on odd jobs to supplement the family's modest income, creating a rabbit farm at the age of 10, managing a "120-mile-long" paper route and buying and selling horses to make ends meet for the family. In high school he attended the New Mexico Military Institute. He later served in the Navy, which brought him to San Diego, California. He later attended San Diego State University (SDSU) and graduated in 1957 at the age of 26. An avid and talented polo enthusiast, in 1952 Brinker was a member of the Olympic Equestrian team, competing in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland and later competed in the 1954 pentathlon competition at the world championships in Budapest[6][7]
In June 1955 Norman married tennis player Maureen Connolly, also known as "Little Mo". The couple shared a passion for horses. Her career ended due to a freak accident on a horse at the age of 18. The couple had two daughters, Cindy Brinker (Simmons), who was born in 1957, and Brenda Brinker (Bottum), who was born in 1959. Maureen died at the age of 34 on June 21, 1969, after a 3-year-long battle with ovarian cancer.[8] The relationship between Norman and Maureen was depicted in a 1978 telefilm, Little Mo, which starred Glynnis O'Connor as Maureen, Mark Harmon as Norman, and Anne Baxter as Maureen's mother.[9]
Brinker had a brief second marriage to a woman named Margaret, whom he divorced in 1976. They had 2 children together Christina and Mark.
On 14 February 1981 Norman married a third time, to Nancy Brinker (nee Nancy Goodman). The marriage provided Nancy with funding and an immediate network of financial and political support for the foundation dedicated to the memory of Nancy's sister Susan G. Komen, which became the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and related Komen Race for the Cure. They have one son, Eric Brinker.[10] The couple were active Bush Pioneers, wealthy donors who provided $100,000 or more of financial support for George W. Bush's presidential ambitions.[11]
On January 22, 1993, Norman was seriously injured during a polo match in a high speed collision with another rider at the West Palm Beach Polo and Hunt Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.[11] Suffering serious head injuries and in what was anticipated to be a prolonged coma, three days after the accident Norman was succeeded by Ron A. McDougall as chief executive officer of Brinker International; despite his retirement,Brinker retained the title of Chairman Emeritus.[4] Norman and Nancy subsequently divorced some years after the accident, and Nancy moved on to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary early in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2003.In March 2003 Norman married his fourth wife, Toni Chapman.
He died on June 9, 2009 from aspiration pneumonia while on vacation in Colorado.[3]
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