Winning Ideas from Successful Entrepreneurs (W.I.S.E.)

	Gov. John Y. Brown, Jr. Successful Career Entrepreneur The man who made KFC the world’s most recognized brand and also went on to become Governor of Kentucky. A career Entrepreneur and restaurant pioneer, John has developed over half-a-dozen food and restaurant businesses from the startup stage. Always challenging the traditional methods of doing business, Brown has opened over 4,000 franchise units nationally and internationally. At the age of 29, with the help of a partner, he also purchased the Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation (KFC) from founder Colonel Harland Sanders. Brown transformed the “Colonel” into the world’s most recognized personal brand and largest food service company, which was later sold for $285 million. His businesslike approach to government also won him the governor’s seat of Kentucky in 1979. Brown has been a featured or keynote speaker over 1,000 times, sharing his entrepreneurial approach and thinking with like-minded leaders everywhere.

	Tim Gannon Co-Founder Outback Steakhouse Tim Gannon, co-founder of Outback Steakhouse, Inc. is an extremely successful businessman, great sportsman and a staunch polo sponsor. He is in charge of all food operations for the successful chain. He is creator of the “Bloomin’ Onion” recipe, and many of the other dishes on Outback’s menu. An alumnus of Florida State University, he studied art history and dreamed of being a museum curator which took him to Florence, Italy, where he became a tour guide for an art gallery. He then went to Aspen, Colorado where he developed his passion for food and cooking. The French chef at the Four Seasons Hotel had offered to train him to be his assistant. Over the next 14 years he worked at Steak & Ale for Norman Brinker, and then Al Copeland hired Tim to help operate his Copeland’s Cajun Cafe’ in New Orleans. In 1987 Tim sold his saddle for $250.00 and arrived in Tampa with $37.00 in his pocket when Bob Basham and Chris Sullivan asked him to become their partner and launch a new restaurant concept that became known as Outback Steakhouse. In 1994, Inc. Magazine named Tim Gannon Entrepreneur of the Year. In 1999, The Florida Restaurant Association honored him with its “Lifetime Achievement Award”. In the year 2000, Tim received an honorary Doctorate Degree in Business Administration and Food Service Management from Johnson & Wales University. He is also a member of the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame. In 2009 he was inducted into the U.S. Business Hall of Fame along with his partners Chris Sullivan and Bob Basham. He has also a supporter of the Tampa Chapter of Junior Achievement and helped with many of their charity events. His favorite past time was playing polo of which he had his own team, Outback Polo. Since 1992 he has been an active polo player and one of the greatest sponsors of the game. In 2001 Outback Polo won their third US Open in a row, which no other polo team has ever done. Tim Gannon also led his team in being the first team ever to hold five US championships (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2001). He has played high goal polo in the U.S., England, Spain, Argentina, Dubai and Uruguay. In 1999, he received the USPA Sponsor of the Year award for his contribution to polo. His other passion is his family; wife, Christie, and four children, Christopher, Kathleen, Blake and Bettina. His children are also great riders and horse lovers.

0	David Gibson Director Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Group

	Todd Graves Founder & CEO Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers Creating one of one of the fastest growing privately owned companies in the U.S., Todd is proof positive that tenacity pays off. It began as a college dream – a vision of a restaurant that served the highest quality, freshest chicken fingers meals – and nothing else. Ironically, the initial business plan earned him the lowest grade in his class. Undaunted through a series of negative responses and declined loans, Todd worked in oil refineries, and commercial salmon fishing boats to raise the capital he needed. Upon his return, he reconstructed an old building with his own hands into the first Raising Cane’s® restaurant. In a moment of inspiration, he even named the restaurant after his yellow lab…Raising Cane. In the past 15 years, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers® has grown from a single location near the campus of LSU to over 80 locations over 13 states.

0	Murray Huneke Global Head of Consumer Investment Banking, Managing Director Piper Jaffray

0	Gary Levy Hospitality Industry Practice Director J.H. Cohn, LLP

	Richard Melman Founder & Chairman Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises A wildly successful career built on a philosophy of putting partnerships first, Richard began a family owned restaurant, and later as a teenager working in fast food eateries. After realizing that he wasn’t cut out to be a college student, and failing to convince his father that he should be made a partner in the family business, Melman met Jerry A. Orzoff. In 1971 the two opened R.J. Grunts, a hip burger joint that soon became one of the hottest restaurants in Chicago in the early ‘70’s. Through his relationship with Orzoff, Melman formulated a philosophy based on the importance of partners – of sharing responsibilities and profits with them, and growing together. Today his Chicago-based corporation owns 80 restaurants nationwide. He places enormous value on the almost 6,000 people who work for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, and feels tremendous responsibility for their continued success.

0	Drew Nieporent Founder Myriad Restaurant Group

	Andrew Peskoe Partner Golenbock, Eiseman, Assor Bell & Peskoe LLP Andrew Peskoe is the co-head of Golenbock Eiseman Assor Bell & Peskoe’s corporate law and food, hospitality and beverage groups. Mr. Peskoe represents many celebrity chefs and restaurateurs, providing legal guidance in business development, expansion, joint venture and financing transactions. The Group’s clients include luminaries in the food industry such as Rachael Ray, David Chang (Momofuku), Adam Perry Lang, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Abigail Kirsch, Jonathan Benno and April Bloomfield. In addition to restaurants owned or managed by these and other chefs, Mr. Peskoe advises numerous restaurant groups, including Del Frisco’s, Sarabeth’s, Dallas BBQ, Barcelona Group, Carmine’s, Virgils, Torrisi, Argo Tea, Frankies Spuntino, Shake Shack and The Fireman Group. Mr. Peskoe represents private and public emerging growth companies, venture capital funds, private equity funds and strategic investors in international and domestic mergers, acquisitions, equity and debt financings, technology transfer and licensing, and complex financing transactions, including leverage buyouts, venture capital and “growth equity” financings, and other private equity transactions.

0	Mike Sanson Editor-in-Chief Restaurant Hospitality

	"Papa" John Schnatter Founder & CEO Papa John's International As a high school student working at a local pizza pub in Jeffersonville, Indiana, Papa John's founder John Schnatter realized that there was something missing from national pizza chains: a superior-quality traditional pizza delivered to the customer's door. His dream was to one day open a pizza restaurant that would fill that void. In 1983, "Papa" John Schnatter knocked out a broom closet located in the back of his father's tavern (Mick's Lounge), sold his prized 1971 Z28 Camaro, purchased $1,600 worth of used restaurant equipment, and began selling his pizzas to the tavern's customers. The customers loved the pizza so much that John was able to expand by moving into adjoining space, eventually leading to the opening of the first Papa John's restaurant in 1984. Today, there are more than 3,000 Papa John's restaurants worldwide. More importantly, Papa John's remains committed to its heritage of making a superior-quality, traditional pizza.

	Antonio Swad Founder Pizza Patron & Wingstop Antonio Swad is the consummate entrepreneur, and a passionate restaurateur at heart. He began his career as a dishwasher at age 15 and quickly worked his way up to unit-level management for companies such as Ponderosa Steak House, Smuggler’s Inn and Village Inn Restaurant. During that time, he developed a voracious appetite for the restaurant business, studying other concept’s successes and failures. In 1986, he founded Pizza Patrón and brought great food, service and respect to the overlooked and often underserved Hispanic community. Since franchising began in 2003, the brand has grown from four stores in Dallas, to over 100 stores in seven states and solidified its place as the nation’s #1 Latin pizza brand. Swad attributes the growth to strong and experienced brand partners combined with an industry-leading concept that fills a void in the Hispanic growth market. In 1994, Swad founded another concept, Wingstop Restaurants, Inc., which has grown to become one of the nation’s top wing brands with 447 locations in the U.S. and Mexico. He sold the company in January of 2003 to Wingstop Holdings Inc. Swad’s formula for a successful franchise concept is simple: • Be sure your product has a broad appeal. • The process needs to be easily taught to others. • The investment level can not exclude too many people. • The concept must be unique and have sizzle.

	Kent Taylor Founder & Chairman Texas Roadhouse From an idea born on a bar napkin to an empire of 345 restaurants fifteen years in the making, Kent has brought the ultimate Texas steakhouse to 46 states. From the beginning his vision was clear- to create an affordable Texas-style restaurant with hearty steaks, killer ribs and ice-cold beer. Initially turned down over 80 times trying to raise money for his idea, Ken’s resolve finally paid off when three Elizabethtown, Kentucky, doctors agreed to provide $300,000 in start-up capital. Texas Roadhouse was launched in 1993 in Clarksville, Indiana. Being the eternal Entrepreneur, Kent is also working on a recent new venture, Aspen Creek, which opened it’s doors in 2009 and has already grown to three units.

Presented by

with & Gov. John Y. Brown, Jr.