with new CEO & Brad Blum's career - The COSI Profit is very possible.
Brad Blum is a brand turnaround expert in the restaurant industry who, as chief executive, has led multiple companies back to profitability, consistently creating real, sustainable value for guests, employees and investors. Blum’s success is founded on the pervasive business philosophy that SUPERIOR financial results come from inspired, principled leadership; a clear compelling vision; a consumer-driven culture; innovation; measureable operational excellence; distinctive brand consistency; appropriate cost controls; and realistic funding and timing expectations from owners.
Evidence of the validity of this philosophy includes a list of successes leading some of the most recognized brands in the restaurant industry including Olive Garden, Burger King and Macaroni Grill.
As president of Olive Garden, Blum spearheaded a dramatic turnaround in the business from the brink of extinction and built the company into the leading casual dining restaurant generating annual sales in excess of $3 million. During eight years of leadership, he created a premier brand, consistently increasing revenues, same-restaurant sales and profits for 33 consecutive quarters. This achievement resulted in an increase of average annual sales per restaurant from $2.4 million to $4.0 million and an increase in operating profits of hundreds of millions of dollars a year, a more than 900 percent increase, to create extraordinary shareholder value for Darden Restaurants.
Blum was named CEO of Burger King to turn around a troubled and significantly declining business during a particularly difficult time in the fast food industry. The company was experiencing significant decreases in sales and eroding margins with many franchisees at risk of going bankrupt. From late 2002 through July of 2004, he led the $11 billion company by re-positioning the brand, holding franchisees to higher operational standards, establishing much needed cost controls, introducing highly successful new product innovations and greatly improving the marketing. These actions doubled profitability during the first year after he joined the company. Under Blum’s leadership, the executive team turned same-restaurant sales positive with a more than +10 percent sales improvement by eliminating deep discounting of signature products and introducing a new $1 billion premium product, setting the stage for a hugely successful IPO in 2006 that achieved a return of more than five times the original private investment.
Blum became CEO of Romano’s Macaroni Grill to lead the turnaround of a restaurant brand that had suffered serious business declines and negative publicity throughout the previous five years with accelerated deterioration in sales and profits with closures of restaurants. Blum’s leadership dramatically reversed this spiral, creating a +14 percent improvement in same-restaurant sales from the previous trend, outperforming the industry for the first time in six years. This was accomplished by fully transforming the menu to offer significantly improved food with higher quality, much better taste and much greater nutritional responsibility while simultaneously reducing costs of goods sold, which along with improved operations contributed to major increases in guest satisfaction and more frequent customer visits.
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