Growth
Pots of gold
How Bob Johnston took The Melting Pot Restaurants Inc. to the next level
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Tampa Bay | July 2008
Page 1 of 3
It certainly wasn’t an overnight success story for Bob Johnston
and The Melting Pot Restaurants Inc.
Sure, with more than 100 restaurants now open around the country and many more in the works, things look great.
However, when Johnston, president and chief operating officer,
and his two older brothers, Mark and Mike, bought the Melting Pot
fondue concept and its five restaurants in 1985, they were fighting
an uphill battle. Aside from the problem of getting banks to loan
them money, they were essentially doing everything themselves.
“Our story is not an instant success story,” Bob Johnston says.
“The first 10 years we struggled, and we really failed to thrive.”
Yet, even with the challenges, they grew to 19 locations.
“But, it wasn’t the growth that we had projected,” Johnston
says.
That was until 1995 when the trio established their mission,
vision and principles as a blueprint on how to achieve their
goals.
“We were not certain that this would solve all that ailed us at
that time,” he says. “However, we realized that we were rather
narrow-minded in how we viewed our business and made decisions.
“We tended to focus on ‘What will this do to the bottom line?’
first, as opposed to considering the impact on our two most
important customers: First, our team members and management, and, secondly, our valued guests in the restaurant. The
purpose of stating clearly our mission, vision and principles
was to help us always put these two groups at the center of our
decision-making.”
To create the mission, vision and principles, consultants interviewed team members about what was important to them
regarding the business, while Johnston and his brothers discussed ideas for the mission, vision and principles with franchisees and showed them how the changes would help the company grow.
“We felt as, if they had a hand in creating this statement, it
would be easier to buy in to it and also teach team members
from it as a platform,” Johnston says. “We said, ‘Let’s take a
hard look at ourselves. Let’s look at our business practices. Is
it a match or is it a mismatch with these things that we say we
believe?’ When we found mismatches, we changed things.”
By defining and stating the mission, vision and principles, the
company attracts and retains better employees, and it’s easier
for Johnston to monitor the company’s progress, which has led
to faster growth.
In 2005, the company posted revenue of $160 million, then
$194 million in 2006 and $217 million in 2007.
While currently employing approximately 5,000 employees,
Johnston and his team continue to grow based on the changes
made in 1995 and expect to open 36 additional restaurants by
the end of 2009.
“Once we clearly stated mission, vision and principles, the
next 10 years kind of tells the rest of the story. We went from
19 to 100 (locations), so you can kind of see what a difference
it made,” he says.
