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Better Bread
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Food industry
executives extol St. Louis region’s central location, reliable workforce,
reasonable prices and top quality product.
By Kevin Kipp
Roots are fine. But the executives and staff that it takes to run
an international food chain gang doesn’t grow on trees.
St. Louis, on the other hand, offers Hardee’s Food Systems both
the reservoir of talent and a more centralized location from which
to oversee its 2,700-store franchise network.
Better biscuits, too. Hardee’s Food Systems President and CEO, Andy
Puzder (left), works at the Hardee’s on Oakland Avenue alongside
Regional Training manager Bob Kammerer to celebrate the company’s
40th anniversary.
Andy Puzder, Hardee’s Food Systems president and CEO, said in a
statement announcing the company’s move to St. Louis, “For 40 years,
the heart of Hardee’s beat in Rocky Mount, N.C.”
But...
“We recognized compelling business reasons to move Hardee’s headquarters,”
Puzder said. “St. Louis’ size makes it easier for us to find and
recruit management talent and much more convenient for our employees
and franchises to travel to and from headquarters.”
While mid-America spells easy access for Hardee’s, other food industry
professionals, add that the price and quality of food in the region
benefits from our salubrious location in the nation’s breadbasket.
MBR Management Corp. chief, Mark Ratterman, reports that the firm
is Ann Arbor-based Dominos Pizza’s fourth largest franchise nationally.
It is large enough that it has its own “commissary, where toppings
and dough are prepared and distributed for use each day. The service
is provided to most of its 1,300 franchises by Domino’s corporate,
but with 40 stores, MBR has reached critical mass.
Ingredients—flour, eggs, vegetables, meats—are delivered by truckload
to a site in Maplewood. Enough ingredients in fact that MBR participates
in commodities futures contracts to hedge against price spikes in
essential ingredients like cheese.
Ratterman is pleased to be a breadbasket case. “Our access and the
price for flour is better in St. Louis than almost anywhere else
in the country.”
Ratterman, a Kentucky native, also likes the workforce. “St. Louis
is very stable, with a Midwestern work ethic. People here are proud
of their performance, both as individuals and as a team. They really
get it, that they’re part of a team.”
Apparently one of MBR’s 600 employees, a Domino’s deliveryman, worked
especially hard, or especially smart. He earned more than $50,000
last year.
Restaurateur Eddie Neill partners with Bernard DeCoster in Eddie’s
Steak and Chop and Café Provencal in Clayton and partners with John
Schreiner in Café Provencal in Kirkwood, buys produce directly whenever
he can.
“Summertime is a lot of fun,” he says, “because we get to deal with
the local organic farmers. Sometimes, putting everything together
on a timely basis is a challenge. We have one farmer who likes to
call at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Then we have to make our decision relatively
fast, whether we can use what she has to sell.”
That’s okay, Neill says. “We rely a lot on our farmers and the season
to dictate the details of our menu.”
Neill also lets freshness determine entrees. “When Prairie Grass
Farms delivers fresh lamb to us, we’ll do leg of lamb at Café Provencal
and send the chops and saddle over to Eddie’s.”
(The restaurants—with about 18 employees each—differ in style and
menu thusly: “Café Provencal is pretty much southern French cuisine,
which is rustic. Every entrée is $15. The wine list is strictly
French.”
On the other hand, Neill says, “Eddie’s Steak and Chop is a steak
house with a French accent.” The wine list has both French and American
selections and entrees start at $14. Lamb chops run $24.)
“Even during winter,” Neill continues, “we have a couple of local
people whom we deal with for pork and lamb.”
What about vegetables in December? “Oh, we work with distributors
a lot, too: sometimes Old Time Produce, sometimes Kuna, sometimes
Middendorf.”
Middendorf the meat people? “All the big guys do everything now,”
Neill says. “And quality is high, too. Don’t get me wrong; I have
some favorite restaurants in New York, but as an owner, I just love
the quality of the food we can get here.”
Steve Weissler, general manager at food service distributor Middendorf
Meat/Quality Food, backs up Neill’s assessment. “The best beef in
the world comes from the Midwest, including Missouri and Illinois.
A lot of our meat arrives after less than four hours on the truck.”
In produce, Middendorf uses locally homegrown tomatoes and fresh
fruits when they’re available. But for leafy vegetables (lettuce
does not thrive here in July) and berries in June, “the growing
areas are on the West Coast. Earlier in the year the tomatoes come
from Florida.”
Weissler concludes, “There’re just an awful lot of advantages for
the food industry in the middle of the country.”
Perhaps the parent company of Hardee’s—CKE Restaurants, currently
based in Anaheim, Calif.—would benefit from these advantages, as
well as St. Louis’ ample supply of electricity.
Kevin Kipp runs Bubble Communications, a creative services and community
relations firm in St. Charles. |
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