Only when the tide goes out do you see who's been swimming naked.

This quote, famous in investment circles, is from billionaire Warren Buffett, the chairman

and CEO of multinational holding company Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett's vivid quotation is meant to illustrate that during periods of growth it's easier

for a business to hide its weaknesses but during a decline, its deficiencies are late

bear.

Berkshire Hathaway, under the leadership of Buffett and admitted fan of junk food, has

taken control of numerous food brands including Hines, Seas Candy and Dairy Queen.

Many of America's most popular chain restaurants are in fact owned by these kinds of conglomerates,

like Brinker International and Sun Capital Partners, with names that sound pulled from dystopian

science fiction.

And among the largest of these is Dine Equity, whose crown jewel is a breakfast-focused

sit-down chain founded into Luka Lake, California in 1958.

For years, Dine Equity was led by one of the most powerful women in corporate America,

Julia Stewart, who got her start working as a waitress for the griddle joint at the age

of 16.

As CEO, Stewart vastly grew the company by bolstering franchising, increasing the Dinerchains franchise

rate to 99% and by expanding the chain's lunch and dinner options.

In 2007, Stewart took on heavy debt to engineer a cashily takeover of chain restaurant

Applebees, turning Dine Equity into the second biggest restaurant group in the country.

But the success would not last forever.

After a decade, his economic inequality led to working families opting for budget-friendly

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