So long, Norman

Most folks probably never heard of Norman Brinker, but to those who follow the chain restaurant business, Brinker, who passed away last week at age 78, changed the way we eat. Back in 1983, Brinker joined a small company called Chili's, at the time a modest hamburger eatery, which became the cornerstone of a Brinker International, a dining empire that serves more than 1 million guests a day and employs 125,000 people in 27 countries. Besides Chili’s, the group includes Maggiano’s Little Italy and On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, two chains that rated highly in our just-released Restaurant Survey report. 

Long before Chili’s, however, Brinker made his indelible mark on the industry by creating the concept of casual dining at affordable prices. In 1965, he launched Steak & Ale, which introduced Americans to the salad bar and inexpensive steak dinner. That might not sound like a big deal in 2009, but 45 years ago, most chains were either fast food or fine dining, with little in between. Equally earth-shaking at the time, Brinker, who worked his own way through college bussing tables, helped turn food service into a bona fide career path by hiring and mentoring students to work the front of the house as waiters, bartenders, hosts, busboys, and managers. 

He sold Steak & Ale to Pillsbury Co., in the early 1970s and went to work for the company's restaurant division. During his time at Pillsbury, he created Bennigan's, a pub-style chain that set its sights on attracting singles.

During the Pillsbury years, Brinker was also the force behind the famous Burger Wars ad campaign of the early 1980s. At the time, Pillsbury’s Burger King chain was losing ground to McDonald’s. In one of the first attack ads that took aim at a competitor by name, Burger King touted its unique flame-broiled patties as superior to those served by its rival.

For all his contributions, Brinker in 2007 was inducted into the Culinary Institute of America’s Hall of Fame in Hyde Park, N.Y. 

Brinker’s life outside the kitchen was quite an adventure, too. He grew up poor on a small farm in Roswell, N.M., joined the navy, married tennis legend Maureen “Little Mo” Connolly, and developed a passion for horses that nearly killed him. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic Equestrian Team, and decades later ended up in a coma for three weeks after high-speed collision in a polo match.

While Brinker created and donated to numerous charities, his marriage to Nancy Goodman lead to the creation one of the best-known cancer-related charities in the world, The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (now known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure). Nancy Goodman was the sister of Susan Komen, who was diagnosed at age 33 and died three years later. The foundation was borne out of Goodman’s promise to her older sibling to bring attention to the deadly disease and speed up research. Despite his divorce from Nancy, Brinker remained with the foundation until his death. To date, the organization has raised more than $1 billion.