Trendspotting with Ron Shaich: Panera, Cava, and Beyond

Masters of Scale

WaitWhat

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management, Reid Hoffman, Mindset, Diversity & Inclusion, Jeff Berman, Bob Safian, Startups

4.6 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2024

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Some business leaders have a seemingly psychic ability to spot trends, and take them mainstream at just the right moment. Ron Shaich is one of those. As a pioneering force behind fast-casual dining, Shaich saw that a growing number of Americans craved higher quality food in a relaxed yet speedy setting. His first major company, Au Bon Pain, paved the way for the meteoric rise of Panera Bread, with more than 2,000 locations nationwide. An accidental start running a convenience store first showed Ron the power of business to enact change. And his curiosity about trends and pattern recognition has fueled the growth of his businesses for decades. These forces have led to Ron Shaich upending how we eat like few others.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey listeners, on May 13th, we invite you to join us and Reed Hoffman for a new virtual strategy session presented an alliance with Capital One business.
0:11.0	You'll hear insights from fellow entrepreneurs about how to be at the forefront of leading
0:15.8	change with AI.
0:18.0	So go to masterrescale.com AI strategy right now to register for free.
0:24.0	Again, that's Master of Scale.com AI strategy.
0:28.0	Looking forward to seeing you there.
0:30.0	I had no interest in business. I grew up in the 60s in the anti-war movement. I came from
0:40.9	a political family and I probably would have ended up like you as a lawyer going to law school and trying to help change the world through that.
1:00.0	That's Ron Shake, pioneer of the fast casual restaurant concept and former leader of Panera Brett, among others.
1:03.6	And yes, I used to be a civil rights lawyer
1:05.8	in Washington, D.C.
1:07.6	One of my many professional lives
1:09.2	before coming to the world of business.
1:12.2	I went to D.C. I worked for a congressman before I went to college. I was a sophomore and I walked
1:19.0	across the street to a local convenience store and frankly we were tossed out for shoplifting.
1:25.8	We didn't.
1:27.2	Ron says the shop keep falsely accused him and his friends
1:30.0	of intending to steal.
1:32.1	I walked back to campus and I was a little inflamed at the moment and I looked at my friends and said, my God, right? What do we need these guys for? Let's go open our own non-profit convenience store.
1:45.0	And the good news was I was the treasure of the student body,
1:48.0	so I had some capabilities to create ultimately a tax which the student body voted to charge to themselves.
1:59.0	It raised enough money to create this store.
	...

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