Norman E. Brinker
Norman E. Brinker | |
---|---|
Born | Norman Eugene Brinker June 3, 1931 Denver, Colorado |
Died | June 9, 2009 | (aged 78)
Occupation | Restaurateur |
Spouse(s) | Maureen Connolly (1955-1969) Magarit Fendt (1971-1976) Nancy Goodman (1981-2000) Toni Chapman (2007) |
Children | Brenda, Christina, Cindy, Eric, Mark |
Parent(s) | Kathryn and Eugene Brinker |
Norman Eugene Brinker (June 3, 1931 – June 9, 2009) was an American restaurateur who was responsible for the creation of new business concepts within the restaurant field. He served as president of Jack in the Box, founded Steak and Ale, and helped establish Bennigan's and founded Brinker International.
Biography
Brinker was born on June 3, 1931. He began his career in the 1960s in
During the 1950s, Brinker engaged in a hectic and busy lifestyle. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1952; during his stint in the service, Brinker used his passion and talent for horsemanship to earn a place on the United States Olympic Equestrian team in the
While Brinker created and donated to numerous charities and foundations over his lifetime, his 20-year marriage to Nancy produced one of the most famous charities of the 20th century. With the memory of his first wife's battle with the disease in the 1960s, the Brinkers used his wealth to establish a fund dedicated to advancing treatment for cancer in the name of Mrs. Brinker's sister who had died of breast cancer in 1980 at the age of 36. The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was established in 1982 and eventually became known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure; it since has become one of the most prominent cancer-related charities in the world. Despite the divorce, Brinker remained with the foundation until the end.
Professional
After Brinker had graduated from college, he took a job with a small chain of diners in San Diego named Oscar's. At the time, Oscar's owner Bob Peterson had also opened a second chain in the area called
When Jack in the Box went public in the early 1960s, Brinker sold his interest in the company and moved to Dallas 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- to 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 of providing an affordable steak dinner to the middle class. He called his new concept Steak and Ale.[3]
With the Steak and Ale chain, Brinker originated the concept of the modern casual dining restaurant that is now ubiquitous in the marketplace. One of the innovations that Brinker introduced with Steak and Ale was the salad bar [
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.[6] During his tenure as executive VP, Brinker oversaw 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, a concept that became known as the "fern bar".[5] 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 asked to turn the brand around and strengthen its position against its main rival,
He worked for the company in this capacity until 1982, when he was promoted to president of Pillsbury's food-service division. His new role expanded his oversight to include the company's other chains, including Burger King, Quik-Wok, and Poppin' Fresh.[6] However his new position was short lived, as he left the company in 1984 to take over a small, Dallas-based gourmet burger chain called Chili's.
Industry impact
Beyond launching several restaurant chains and the creation of one of the most widely emulated restaurant formats used in the market today, Brinker had another, indirect impact on the food-service industry. Over his nearly 50-year career, he worked with, hired or trained many executives who have gone on to establish themselves within the modern restaurant industry in the United States and Canada. Many of these individuals started with him either at his Steak and Ale chain beginning or met him during the establishment of Bennigan's in the 1970s. Others were with him during the time as president of Pillsbury's restaurants division or came up through the Chili's system under his watch.[8]
Some of the people who have worked with Brinker have gone on to oversee competing chains, such as
Personal life
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
In June 1955, Brinker married tennis player
Brinker married his second wife, Magrit L. Fendt, on March 7, 1971. Over the next five years, the couple had two children: Christina and Mark. The couple divorced in 1976.[16]
On February 14, 1981, Brinker married a third time, to
On January 22, 1993, Brinker 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.[19] Suffering serious head injuries and in what was anticipated to be a prolonged coma, three days after the accident, Brinker was succeeded by Ron A. McDougall as chief executive officer of Brinker International; despite his retirement, Brinker retained the title of chairman emeritus.[6] Some years after the accident, Norman and Nancy Brinker had an amicable divorce after 20 years of marriage and Nancy moved on to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary early in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2003. Norman Brinker remained a close advisor to Nancy Brinker in the years following their divorce.[5][20]
Brinker died on June 9, 2009, from aspiration pneumonia while on vacation in Colorado, six days after his 78th birthday.[5]
Publications
- Brinker, Norman Donald T. Phillips, On the Brink: The Life and Leadership of Norman Brinker Summit Publishing Group, 1996, 203 pages, ISBN 1-56530-212-5
References
- ^ William Clark Hetherington, Six Chukkers Of Love, AuthorHouse, 2005, p. 122
- ^ "Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame biography". Archived from the original on June 17, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Romeo, Peter (December 19, 1988). "Brinker: a man with a vision". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved March 3, 2008.
- ^ Noland, Claire (June 9, 2009). "Norman Brinker dies at 78; restaurateur helped create a new way to dine". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
- ^ Dallas Morning News. Archived from the originalon June 27, 2009. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
- ^ a b c Ruggless, Ron (June 9, 2009). "Industry icon Norman Brinker dies". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved June 10, 2009. [dead link]
- ^ "Sarah Michelle Gellar". NNDB.com. Retrieved October 2, 2007.
- ^ a b Edwards, Joe (September 12, 1987). "The best in the business are from Brinker's "brood"". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved June 14, 2009.
- ^ Romeo, Peter (1986). "Jenkins replaces Scoggin as TGI Friday's president". Nation's Restaurant News. BNet.com. Retrieved June 14, 2009.
A two-year decline in earnings has spurred TGI Friday's to replace president and chief executive Daniel R. Scoggin with J. Michael Jenkins, a past operator of archrival Bennigan's.
- ^ Romeo, Peter J. (April 4, 1988). "Rivera takes experience to the top at T.G.I. Friday's". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved June 14, 2009.
As the new president and chief executive of T.G.I. Friday's Inc., Richard E. "Dick" Rivera is learning exactly how big the jump can be from second-in-command to head honcho.
- ^ a b Ruggless, Ron. "Restaurant industry remembers Norman Brinker". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved June 14, 2009. [dead link]
- ^ "NRN names Alice Elliot 2019 Norman Award honoree". Nation's Restaurant News. March 18, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
- New York Times. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
Mr. Brinker was a member of the United States Olympic equestrian team in 1952.
- ^ Klemesrud, 1985, "His first wife, Maureen (Little Mo) Connolly, the tennis star, died of ovarian cancer in 1969 at the age of 34."
- ^ Erickson, Hal (2009). "Little Mo (1978)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 6, 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
- ^ "Marriage License Record of Norman E. Brinker and Magrit L. Fendt". Dallas Office of Vital Records. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
- People Magazine. Time Warner. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
- Peoria Journal Star. August 29, 1999. Archived from the originalon August 17, 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
In November 1980, Nancy met restaurant magnate Norman Brinker in Dallas. He understood her loss—he had been married to tennis star Maureen Connolly, who died from ovarian cancer in 1969. Norman and Nancy married the following Valentine's Day.
- ^ a b "Norman Brinker". NNDB. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
- ^ Hienz, Frank (June 10, 2009). "Chili's Mogul Brinker Was "A Living Legend"". NBC News. NBC Universal. Retrieved June 12, 2009.