“I really wanted people to feel known. I really believe that if you’re going to grow and develop people, you have to know them.”
Off the Rakelcomes Cheryl Bachelder, restaurant industry executive and former CEO of Popeyes® Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. She’s the author of “Dare to Serve,” and a passionate advocate of servant leadership. When she took over the company in 2007, the company had been through four CEOs in the previous seven years. And the stock had slid by over 60% during that time. Ten years later, the stock had risen by over 500% under her leadership and the rest is history — she shares more of the story in this riveting conversation about the importance of serving others in leadership.
About the Guest
Cheryl A. Bachelder is a passionate restaurant industry executive and former CEO of Popeyes® Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. Cheryl is known for her crisp strategic thinking, franchisee-focused approach, superior financial performance and the development of outstanding leaders and teams.
Cheryl joined Popeyes, Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., in November 2007, after serving as an active member of the Board for a year. She brought more than 35 years of experience in brand building, operations, and public-company management at companies like Yum Brands, Domino’s Pizza, RJR Nabisco, The Gillette Company, and The Procter & Gamble Company.
At Popeyes, Cheryl promptly established a Road Map for Results. This strategic framework led to market share gains of eight points, improved guest ratings, and increased restaurant margins (400 basis points in seven years). The improvement in restaurant performance led franchisees to remodel the system and accelerate new unit growth both in the U.S. and abroad. In eight years, the enterprise market cap grew from less than $300 million to over $1.3 billion. At fiscal year-end 2015, Popeyes’ system-wide revenues were $3.1 billion. These revenues were generated by over 2,539 restaurants operated by 360 franchisees and more than 60,000 restaurant employees in the United States, three territories, and 27 foreign countries.
Ms. Bachelder created a culture based on the Popeyes Purpose: to inspire servant leaders to achieve superior results. This purpose was expressed in the six principles of how they worked together. The Popeyes team focus was to serve the franchise owners well; together they pursued a bold ambition for the enterprise. This produced exceptional performance results. In March 2015, Ms. Bachelder published a book chronicling the tenets of the Popeyes turnaround, entitled Dare to Serve, Second Edition – How to drive superior results by serving others.
Ms. Bachelder currently serves as the lead director at Chick-fil-A, Inc. and the compensation chair and board member at US Foods Holding, Inc. She is a board member of WorkMatters, a ministry serving Christian leaders in the marketplace.
In September 2015, Cheryl was awarded The Norman Brinker Award from Nation’s Restaurant News. She has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and was named by CNBC’s Jim Cramer as one of his “21 Bankable CEOs” for 2014. In 2012, she was recognized as “Leader of the Year” by the Women’s Foodservice Forum, and received the Silver Plate Award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association.
Ms. Bachelder holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Marketing, from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. She has been married over 40 years to Chris and they have three grown daughters, two son-in-laws, and five handsome grandsons!
Links in this Episode
Learn more about Cheryl at her website at cherylbachelder.com
