Rosalyn "Roz" Mallet chuckles when asked if the franchise company she and a partner formed in 2009 is merely a place to park herself in 2012. After all, next year she succeeds her friend and Buffalo Wild Wings CEO Sally Smith as Chair of the National Restaurant Association. It wouldn’t be the first time a veteran executive spent a year attending meetings, giving speeches, and working with state associations.
"No, no. This job is for the long-haul," Mallet corrects during a series of recent interviews. She co-founded the Plano, Texas-based PhaseNext Hospitality instead of taking a corporate job, which she’s had for the bulk of her career, she insists.
The job is also a requirement for the Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) certification, which Mallet and co-founder Amy O’Neil earned as female (i.e., minority owners) of a Texas-based company. The HUB program gives minority-owned businesses easier access to government contracts, but requires owners to run their business day-to-day, according to its website.
Franchise Under Construction PhaseNext cofounders Amy O’Neil (left) and Roz Mallet are adding multiple hospitality concepts.
"My intent is to grow the company to as many stores as I can," declares Mallet, who launched her post-college career at El Chico followed by ladder-climbing stints, largely in human resources, at Applebee’s, Rio Bravo, and TGI Friday’s. When she arrived at La Madeleine French Bakery & Café, as COO in 2003, she got her first taste of senior-level operations.
Dynamic additions
So far, she and O’Neil have opened a Buffalo Wild Wings and a Smashburger in a one-of-a-kind lifestyle center called Freedom Crossing at Fort Bliss, a sprawling military base in south Texas (with a daytime population of 49,000). The $2 million project was funded largely with an SBA-backed loan; the women dug into their savings to make up the difference.
"Roz and Amy have done a nice job operationally. [They’re running] an above-average store," says Smashburger CEO David Prokupek, adding the pair will open units in non-traditional sites as part of a seven-store agreement.
PhaseNext also has inked agreements with Corner Bakery, Freshii, and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf though none have opened to date. The company has also submitted RFPs at airports in Dallas and Atlanta as part of an "off-the-street" site strategy that could add seven new units by the end of 2012, O’Neil predicts.
Not to worry, though. "We have a lot more operating experience than other bidders and we’re very targeted and focused on standards of execution," she boasts. "We chose brands that are not in or near airports."
Still, raising capital hasn’t been easy. Of banks that offer SBA loans, Mallet warns: "They tend not to want to invest as much as they can."
Mallet, the third African-American to occupy the top slot at the 93-year-old NRA, will have her hands full. "It’s a big responsibility, with three significant board meetings and weekly calls. It’s not for the faint of heart," offers the association’s CEO Dawn Sweeney. Mallet will lead a 90-member board, which represents the concerns of some 40,000 member companies.
Crucial issues loom, chiefly in the form of new healthcare legislation, which the association initially supported. "It’s not that we don’t want hourly workers to have health insurance. It’s that restaurants can’t afford to provide it the way legislation is written," Mallet explains. Today, the group is seeking changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, which will require large businesses starting in 2014 to provide minimal essential insurance to workers or face penalties.
Sweeney, who admires Mallet’s broad industry experience, thinks the 2012 NRA Chair can help persuade legislators, and the public, that restaurants create jobs, provide community and offer career advice to young workers. Mallet’s own story, she adds, may inspire the next generation of foodservice entrepreneurs.
Mallet promises to remain non-partisan in an important election year. "I want to keep the focus on issues," she maintains. "I don’t care if I’m talking to a Republican or Democrat—as long as they understand the issues." She quietly concedes, however, that Congressional Republicans are more sympathetic to business than Democrats.
Team work
There’s also the issue of running her business from afar. O’Neil, PhaseNext Hospitality COO, acknowledges adjustments will have to be made next year given her partner’s heavy travel schedule. "But we’ve balanced our responsibilities, and we are also comfortable trading responsibilities," she says. O’Neil’s role so far has been overseeing day-to-day operations and opening restaurants; Mallet, who is president and CEO, meets with franchisors and potential investors to explain the company’s development strategy.
Their ability to work together is the result of a long relationship. O’Neil, a former Caribou Coffee executive, was introduced to Mallet in 1996 by the chain’s founder. She got to know Mallet better when Mallet joined Caribou’s board in ’06 and, a year later, became CEO. Mallet’s tenure as chief executive at the publicly traded chain, which was in a turnaround, was made even more difficult by the economy.
By the time Mallet was appointed interim CEO, in March ’07, investors had lost confidence in management. "The stock (price) was already plummeting and the company had grown ineffectively. Add to that a recession, and things started to go crazy," she says.
O’Neil, then-senior vice president of operations, remembers her former boss as strategic, methodical and supportive, despite problems. "She expected results and yet had a reputation for putting people first. That was the kind of person I wanted to work with," she says.
Her efforts at putting others first—and acknowledging those who, in turn, helped her —have earned Mallet industry-wide recognition. In 1998, she earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel & Restaurant Management at the University of Houston and, while interim CEO of Caribou Coffee, the Women’s Foodservice Forum bestowed upon her its prestigious Trailblazer Award. "I was in the audience when Roz received the award and the first 17 rows, where I was sitting, were filled with her supporters and people who wanted to emulate her success," Sweeney remembers.
The 50-something executive is quick to heap praise upon confidantes, admitting that without them, her career would not be the same. "I’ve had the opportunity to have great mentors and been able to build my skills with my network," she says, before dropping names like Wally Doolin, Alice Elliott and Jim Parish.
"It’s instinctive to Roz that she surrounds herself with best-of-class advisors and friends," says executive recruiter Elliott, CEO of the Elliott Group, which named Mallet "Motivator of the Year" in 1997. Parish, of Parish Partners, a strategic advisory firm, recalls he outlined the risks of starting a new business. "At the time I spoke with Roz, she hadn’t settled on any of her brands, and was just thinking about where to start and how to get going. I’m thrilled she has made a good start," he says.
PhaseNext’s two franchised restaurants opened at Freedom Crossing last October, part of its strategy to win government contracts. "We know the military are opening lifestyle centers [in other places]," says Mallet.
The Fort Bliss shopping center, for example, resembles a stylish outdoor mall with dozens of national brands. It was designed, in part, to tempt soldiers (and their families) to re-up for a second tour by making the property look familiar (i.e., non-military). Freedom Crossing’s website boasts: "It’s an experience for the entire community."
Says Mallet: "We get a lot of families, more than we anticipated."
