Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Shake Shack
WORK NOTES: with Mark Rosati
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: New York
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/randy-garutti-8870502/ * https://www.thestreet.com/story/13491442/1/shake-shack-ceo-how-i-went-from-helping-run-a-hot-dog-cart-to-leading-a-billion-dollar-company.html * https://www.fastcompany.com/3047020/how-two-shake-shack-executives-talked-their-way-into-their-dream-jobs
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Cornell University, B.S., 1997.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Business executive and writer. Union Square Hospitality Group, New York, NY, general manager, 2000-04, director of operations, 2004-07; Shake Shack, Inc., New York, NY, chief operating officer, 2007-2011, CEO, 2011–. Previously worked as a general manager of a restaurant in Seattle, WA. Also on board of directors of Square, 2017–.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Randy Garutti is the chief executive officer at Shake Shack, Inc., a restaurant chain that he helped develop from its origins as a hot dog stand. From these humble origins, the Shake Shack chain of restaurants has grown to have 88 worldwide locations and a more than $1 billion valuation. In Shake Shack: Recipes & Stories, Garutti and coauthor Mark Rosati, Shake Shack’s culinary director, present Shake Shack’s first cookbook.
In addition to seventy recipes, the book includes stories and professional tips for home cooking, as well as 200 paragraphs. Garutti and Rosati chronicle the rise of Shake Shack, from its humble beginnings as a kiosk established by Danny Meyer in New York’s Central Park. Since that time, it became a famous eatery in New York City and eventually expanded into other parts of the United States and the world. In the process, Garutti and Rosati provide a behind-the-scenes look at the restaurant and its staff via various stories. For example, they tell how a superlative fried chicken sandwich recipe came about because of a costly mistake involving French fries.
The book includes several chapters revolving around restaurant management, from marketing work for new locations to the various supporters of the operation, from the hot dog supplier to the furniture maker. Garutti and Rosati pay special attention to the company’s founder. They detail how Meyer was inspired to create the first Shake Shack and how he was initially not inclined to expand.
The recipes in Shake Shack include a variety of hamburgers, hot dogs, crinkle-cut fries, and various shakes. The recipes are organized by menu items, with each of the chapters including a section on secrets concerning ingredients. Although the book details how to make the Shake Shack’s noted hamburgers, the authors only include hints about how to make butcher Pat LaFrieda’s secret beef blend used at Shake Shack. For many of the sauces and other condiments used, the authors replace concoctions made at the restaurants with easily obtainable items from stores, such as ketchup and mayonnaise. “We didn’t want this to sit on your shelf, we wanted to put out something you would actually reference,” Garutti told Eater website contributor Daniela Galarza. A Publishers Weekly contributor called Shake Shack “a must-read chronicle for fans of Danny Meyer’s famous eatery,” adding that the “origin story is also a treatise on restaurant management.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 3, 2017, review of Shake Shack: Recipes & Stories, p. 68.
ONLINE
Business Wire, https://www.businesswire.com/ (July 20, 2017), “Square Names Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti to Board of Directors.”
Chicago Tribune Online, http://www.chicagotribune.com/ (May 18, 2017), (May 18, 2017), Nick Kindelsperger, “We Tried Shake Shack Burger Recipe from New Cookbook: How’s It Taste?”
CNBC website, https://www.cnbc.com/ (November 6, 2017), “Shake Shack CEO Dishes on Chili, Mobile Ordering .”
Eater, https://www.eater.com/ (May 10, 2017), Daneila Galarza, “Inside Shake Shack’s First Cookbook,” review of Shake Shack.
Fast Company, https://www.fastcompany.com/ (June 24, 2015), Rob Brunner, “How Two Shake Shack Executives Talked Their Way Into Their Dream Jobs”; (January 12, 2017), brief author profile.
Financial Times Online, https://www.ft.com/ (January 22, 2017), Janina Conboye, “Randy Garutti: What the Shake Shack CEO Reads on His Way to Work.”
Money Inc., http://moneyinc.com/ (January 12, 2017), Nat Berman, “Randy Garutti: 10 Things You Didn’t Know about Shake Shack’s CEO.”
Nation’s Restaurant News, http://www.nrn.com/ (October 1, 2017), Jonathan Maze, “2017 Golden Chain Award Winner: Randy Garutti.”
TheStreet, https://www.thestreet.com/ (March 19, 2016), Brian Sozzi, “Shake Shack CEO: How I Went From Helping Run a Hot Dog Cart to Leading a Billion-Dollar Company.”
Shake Shack CEO: How I Went From Helping Run a Hot Dog Cart to Leading a Billion-Dollar Company
The rapidly-expanding better burger chain had some pretty humble beginnings, and CEO Randy Garutti has been there right from the start.
ByBrian Sozzi
Mar 19, 2016 9:07 AM EDT
For a company that's now worth over a billion dollars, Shake Shack (SHAK - Get Report) had some pretty humble beginnings.
The company began as a single hot dog cart in a park in New York City back in 2001, with the food coming from two nearby restaurants owned by noted restaurateur and Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer. After three years of serving food to increasingly long lines, Meyer hatched an idea to turn the cart into a permanent restaurant concept, sketching his idea of what it would look like on a paper napkin.
Since that first official Shake Shack opened in 2004, the company has developed a core menu of burgers, sides and frozen custards, all made with high-quality ingredients such as antibiotic-free Angus beef. More recently, Shake Shack has ventured into fried chicken with its ChickenShack sandwich, which has quickly become quickly become one of its best-selling items.
Shake Shack now has 50 restaurants across the United States and 33 licensed locations overseas in countries such as Russia, Turkey, the U.K., Japan and the Middle East (its largest international market). The company went public to great fanfare in January 2015, with shares more than doubling on their first day of trading. More recently, though, its stock has been challenged as the company struggles to meet sky-high expectations.
Randy Garutti has Shake Shack reaching for ever-higher goals.
One thing that hasn't changed at Shake Shack since its hot dog cart beginnings, though, is the hands-on involvement of energetic CEO Randy Garutti, who helped run the cart when he was general manager for one of the nearby restaurants that supplied it with food. To say Garutti has the restaurant business in his bones might be an understatement.
At the age of 13, Garutti worked at a New Jersey bagel shop and by 17, he was waiting tables at a nearby country club. While working on getting a degree in hotel and restaurant management at Cornell, he took orders at Chili's and traveled abroad to learn about different food cultures. After college, he went off to work at a restaurant in Colorado that moved him to locations in Denver, Maui and eventually Seattle.
When he was 23, Garutti managed to secure a 45-minute meeting with the legendary Meyer, who was famous for opening up restaurants such as Union Square Cafe and racking up coveted James Beard awards. Recalls Meyer, "I saw a guy with more enthusiasm in his little finger than most people have in their entire body, and he was oozing love for the restaurant business, especially fine dining restaurants."
The rest, as they say, is history.
TheStreet talked with the 40-year-old Garutti after the opening of Shake Shack's first location in Arizona in late February. Garutti shared with us how the unique Shake Shack culture works, when he knew he and other executives knew they had something special on their hands and how he balances his hectic work schedule. What follows is a condensed and edited version of our conversation.
Garutti with TheStreet at the original Shake Shack location in New York City.
TheStreet: When you were helping make hot dogs for the cart that ultimately led to the creation of Shake Shack, did you ever think you'd one day be leading a company with a $1.25 billion market cap and close to $200 million in annual sales?
Garutti: Never. No one involved at that time ever dreamed there would be a thing called Shake Shack. And after [we opened the first location], we never dreamed there would be a second Shake Shack, which took nearly five years to happen. I honestly believe that type of humility and that organic growth is one of the major pieces for why it all actually happened.
TheStreet: When did you know you had something special on your hands?
Garutti: There were a couple of moments. The first was when we opened the Upper West Side location, which was the second Shake Shack. And we projected it as getting half of the sales of the original Madison Square Park location. And when it did more than that in sales -- at that point we said whoa, we have a responsibility to check this out further.
When we went to Miami for the fourth-ever Shake Shack, that was the first thing Danny Meyer and company had ever done outside of New York City, and it was off-the-charts busy. Then in 2011, we opened in Dubai and Kuwait, and this was a tiny little company that we did that, and it was one of the busiest launches we have ever seen. At that point, we realized wow, this is a global growth opportunity here.
TheStreet: Now you're CEO of a public company worth over a billion dollars. What do you attribute this amazing progression to?
Garutti: I gave a speech to our team recently, and I said the reason that this company is what it is, is because we are all the people we were meant to be when we come to work every day. I am the exact same guy talking to you as I am talking to our team as I am talking to my kids and wife when I am at home. I think the key has been staying true to who I am every day.
TheStreet: The ChickenShack has quickly become a top-selling item on the menu since its nationwide launch in January. Take us through the development process.
Garutti: We always wanted to do something with chicken over the years, but we never really figured it out. About two years ago, we just started messing around in the test kitchen with different ways to cook chicken -- fried, griddled, grilled, etc. We kind of went back and forth, but didn't put full force behind it. And then finally, there was one tasting with a big group of people, including Danny Meyer, myself and other leaders, and we all sort of hit it and said this is it. And then it took a few months to test in Brooklyn last year, and we did that test for six months before we launched it company-wide in January. So it was a long process, with a lot of feedback from people and tweaks.
The recently-introduced ChickenShack has quickly become a best-seller.
TheStreet: You've now been a public company CEO for just over a year. How are you handling the work/life balance?
Garutti: It's hard to balance. There is no question there is a new call on my time to just be public, and that's very hard and very different. I am probably working a little more, and probably working out a lot more -- doing more SoulCycle and Vikram yoga -- that keeps my mind and body sharp.
The ultimate answer is that when I am wherever I am I have to be present. I don't believe in these things called 'work' and 'life' -- it's all life. When I am at work, I have to be focused. When I am home reading a story to my daughter at night, I have to be home.
As I am doing that, every leader around me [at Shake Shack] is getting better and better at their jobs. They are doing more, and proving they can do more. All of that is allowing me to be the public company CEO I need to be and importantly, a great husband and dad.
TheStreet: So basically, you never sleep?
Garutti: Last night I probably only slept about five-and-a-half hours because I woke up to go to a spin class this morning before the opening [of our Scottsdale, Ariz. location] because I need to be pumped up. The night before I hiked up Camelback mountain in Scottsdale, and that was pretty early.
I am a person that could exist really well on little sleep. But I am at my optimum at seven hours of sleep plus. I love waking up early -- I am usually up at 6:00 am, then go to a SoulCycle class and then am at my desk by 8:00 am.
TheStreet: As Shake Shack continues to expand quickly, you naturally need the right executives in place to make that work out successfully. What are the qualities you are looking for while growing your executive team?
Garutti: Anyone who has ever interviewed with me is told that if you choose to come work here, the ground level expectation for your day is that you will move mountains. If that's not for you, then this is not the place for you. My expectation for myself, and everyone around me, is that today we are going to move mountains. Not everyone wants that in their life -- there are a lot of easier places to go to work every day.
It's also about being yourself and bringing your best every single day. The technical stuff in some jobs is of course more important, but if you come and hang with our team we are just a bunch of good human beings that want to be with each other. And it's true whether you're an executive or a guy working the burger station.
06.24.15innovation agents
How Two Shake Shack Executives Talked Their Way Into Their Dream Jobs
Randy Garutti and Mark Rosati scored jobs in Danny Meyer’s hard-to-crack restaurant operation. Here’s what you can learn from their tactics.
Shake Shack culinary director Mark Rosati (Photo: Stephen Lovekin, Getty Images for NYCWFF)
By Rob Brunner5 minute Read
Have you ever wondered how people actually land amazing gigs–like, say, working for revered New York restaurateur Danny Meyer? Shake Shack executives Randy Garutti and Mark Rosati–both of whom are featured in Fast Company’s in-depth look at the hit burger chain–each talked their way into plum jobs with Meyer’s operation, and their success offers some potentially useful guidance. Garutti, now Shake Shack’s CEO, started his career with Meyer as the general manager of now-closed Indian-fusion restaurant Tabla. And Shake Shack culinary director Mark Rosati got hired as a cook in Meyer’s Gramercy Tavern, one of New York’s top kitchens. How did they do it? Here are their stories.
Put Passion Before Paycheck
As a young New Yorker, Mark Rosati loved to eat out, saving up money for meals at high-end spots like Babbo and Meyer’s Gramercy Tavern, where he usually sat at the bar. “I started to get more of the bug about getting into the business,” he recalls, “because I became obsessed with how food was prepared. I could not understand how my chicken at home tasted horrible, but the same chicken at the restaurant was crispy and well-seasoned. I had friends who worked in the business, and I would pepper them with questions. I was buying a lot of books, watching a lot of TV shows, cooking for friends and family.”
At one point, Rosati attended a food-and-wine festival where then Gramercy Tavern chef Tom Colicchio–not yet a household name but still one of New York’s leading chefs–was making an appearance. “I just started gushing,” Rosati says. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, I love the food. And, like, that sirloin dish: How long do you cook those onions? Because mine don’t taste like that.’ He’s like, ‘Whoa. Here’s my card. If you want to ever come in and watch us cook, it’ll probably answer a lot of your questions.’”
I said, ‘I think I want in on this,’” Rosati recalls. “And they actually laughed.
Rosati jumped at the chance to spend time in such a high-end kitchen. “I still remember everything I saw and smelled,” he says. “When I walked over to the side of the kitchen where the guy was cooking meat, he pulled the sirloin out of the oven and he put a big old chunk of butter in the pan that started to melt and foam. He threw in fresh thyme and started basting that sirloin with that. And the smell of all those ingredients together, right there I was like, ‘I need this. I think I want to be in here.’”
Rosati went back, and went back again. They started giving him small jobs. “So I said, ‘I think I want in on this,’” he recalls. “And they actually laughed, like, ‘I don’t know, man. You kind of know what’s happening here, but I don’t know if you’ve ever felt the pressure.’ I was like, ‘I can do it!’”
To prove himself, Rosati offered to work for free. It was tough, unglamorous labor, mostly doing prep work. But he stuck with it. “I worked with the a.m. crew that works on Monday through Friday. I was in at 6:30, out at 5. And every job they would give me . . . some were pretty crazy. One time I had to cut, like, two five-liter buckets of onions. They had to be perfectly quarter-inch diced. And my hand was literally in a claw. I couldn’t even move my eyes. But I was still smiling. The chef comes over and looks and goes, ‘Huh.’ Pulls an onion and says, ‘This one’s too small, this one’s too big. This is going to burn, this is going to be raw.’ The job wasn’t done. I had to keep going, but I was still like, this is kind of cool.”
He continued to volunteer for two long months. Finally, they offered him a paying job, and Rosati found himself working at one of New York’s most-acclaimed restaurants.
Randy Garutti, chief executive officer of Shake Shack, left, and Danny Meyer, founder of Union Square Hospitality GroupPhoto: Scott Eells, Bloomberg via Getty Images
Persistence Can Trump Experience
A New York-area native, Randy Garutti went to the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, then got a series of restaurant-management jobs in places like Aspen and Maui. But he came back to the east coast regularly to visit his family, and at one point he decided he needed to meet Danny Meyer, who at the time had just two restaurants, Union Square Café and Gramercy Tavern. “I called and called and called, and I couldn’t get past his assistant,” Garutti recalls. “I couldn’t meet with him.”
I remember Danny saying, ‘OK, kid, what do you want?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, sir.’
But finally the persistence paid off, and Meyer agreed to give him a few minutes. A very few. “His assistant said, ‘He’s opening two restaurants, he does not have time, he has 10 minutes.” The meeting took place in the construction site of what would become Eleven Madison Park, which Meyer created. “I remember Danny sitting in front of me saying, ‘OK, kid, what do you want?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, sir. You’re supposed to be a great guy; I just want to know how you do it.’ And we hit it off.” The 10-minute meeting stretched into three-quarters of an hour.
That informational get-together didn’t lead directly to a job. Garutti went to Seattle to work at the restaurant Canlis, eventually getting promoted to general manager. But after a year and a half in Seattle, he wanted to move back to New York, and he called Meyer. This time, it was much easier to get through. Meyer put Garutti in touch with his business partner, and that led to an official interview. “So I come across country, I’m interviewing at Tabla and Eleven Madison,” says Garutti, who was then in his mid-20s. “And they tell me, ‘You’re a good kid, but you’re not ready to run a restaurant in New York.’” That was that, Garutti thought, and he flew back to Seattle.
But that very night, he got a call. “They say, ‘We want you to come back and think about interviewing to be the GM of Tabla,’” Garutti recalls. “I think they decided they wanted to change it up a little bit. Danny basically said, ‘You’re not ready, but we think you can do it and we’re going to give you a shot. So I got the job.”
Randy Garutti
CEO, Shake Shack | New York, NY
Randy Garutti is the chief executive officer at Shake Shack. After working as general manager of a Seattle restaurant, Garutti began working with Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group, who was building an empire. Garutti moved up the ranks, becoming director of operations for the entire company. He and Meyer began a hot dog cart that grew into fast-casual favorite Shake Shack, which he has since had a successful IPO and boasts 88 worldwide locations—and a more than $1 billion valuation.
Labor will be Shake Shack's greatest headwind for the next few years, CEO says
Labor will be Shake Shack's greatest headwind for the next couple of years, said CEO Randy Garutti.
The country is moving toward $15 minimum wage, he said, and Shake Shake is experimenting with ways to pay its team while also having a solid business model.
Shake Shack is also toying with its menu. It unveiled chili last month that will be available for a limited time.
Angelica LaVito
Published 6:59 PM ET Mon, 6 Nov 2017
CNBC.com
Shake Shack CEO dishes on chili, mobile ordering
6:10 PM ET Mon, 6 Nov 2017 | 04:41
Labor will be Shake Shack's greatest headwind for the next couple of years, said CEO Randy Garutti.
"There's no doubt. With rising minimum wage, the amount that we're growing — we announced we're going to have our largest year of growth yet — and with that comes a lot of preparation and a lot of leadership we've got to develop," Garutti told CNBC's "Fast Money" on Monday.
The country is moving toward $15 minimum wage, he said, and Shake Shake is experimenting with ways to pay its team while also having a solid business model. The burger chain is testing a cashless kiosk in New York that it opened last month. Employees at the location are paid a minimum of $15 per hour.
Shake Shack is also toying with its menu. It unveiled chili last month that will be available for a limited time. The restaurant typically keeps a tight menu, Garutti said, but sometimes it likes to add things.
Source: Shake Shack
Shake Shack Chili
"I think it's going to be a winner," he said.
Shake Shack's same-store sales decreased 1.6 percent last quarter. Garutti defended the chain's strategy of sometimes opening stores nearby other ones. He said there are some instances where putting a restaurant near another one may have hurt sales, but that's a decision management will make "time after time."
"We're not running this business for percentages," Garutti said. "We're running it to make a lot of money, and we do that when we open more Shacks."
Randy Garutti: 10 Things You Didn’t Know about Shake Shack’s CEO
Nat Berman 1 year ago No Comments
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Restaurant chains are some of the best known and most profitable businesses in the world. Thousands of people frequent fast food restaurants every day, and these popular brands take on a place of importance in society. While most people think of McDonald’s and Burger King when they think of fast food chains, other brands are making their mark as well. One such brand is Shake Shack, a restaurant famous for its milkshakes, burgers, and hot dogs. Much of Shake Shack’s success is owed to its CEO, Randy Garutti.
Randy Garutti was responsible for the inception of the chain as well as just about every major development it has experienced thus far. The chain has spread across the US and into other countries while maintaining its unique identity. Garutti convinced Danny Meyer to open the first Shake Shack in 2004 as part of Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). This group was fundamental in the restoration of Madison Square Park, and therefore has been greatly influenced by New York City.
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While this chain of restaurants is incredibly popular and growing quickly, many people do not know a great deal about the man behind this success. Companies do not grow to be worth over $1 billion on their own, so it is important to understand the type of person that Garutti is and how he led Shake Shack to such tremendous heights. Here are ten of the most interesting facts about the CEO.
10. He has a long history of running restaurants
Although Shake Shack is by far his greatest success, Garutti has had a great deal of experience in the world of restaurant management. In fact, he has spent over 15 years developing his skills as a leader within the USGH world. Most notably, this included a tenure as the Director of Operations for all USHG restaurants. As well, he served as the General Manager for the award-winning Union Square Café. This impressive resume speaks to Garutti’s considerable experience. Clearly, he has used this experience to make Shake Shack one of the most popular chains in the country.
9. He is known for his passion
Although he is certainly a shrewd businessman, Garutti is widely known to be very passionate about his work. This is reflected in the success of Shake Shack. This passion for hospitality developed in his youth, when he worked at a bagel shop at age 13 and would later work for Chili’s. In order to open the first Shack Shake, Garutti had a 45-minute conversation with Danny Meyer. In this meeting, Meyer has stated that he was very impressed by Garutti’s enthusiasm for the project. Therefore, Garutti’s passion is not only responsible for Shake Shack’s success today, but was also instrumental in its creation.
8. He is well educated
Although his passion is crucial to his success, Garutti also has formal training in the restaurant industry. Most importantly, he graduated from the prestigious Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in 1997. This means that he has the knowledge and background to provide a solid foundation that he has built upon with his experience working in other restaurants.
7. He is known to be genuine
Successful businesses must compete with each other to assert market dominance and gain customers. However, Garutti has not allowed the competitive nature of the restaurant industry to change who he is as a person. Instead, he has stated that he strives to be the same person whether talking to employees, investors, or interviewers. Shake Shack employees are certainly aware of how genuine and authentic Garutti is. He commonly dresses casually in jeans, and speaks openly and frankly to his employees. He once told workers at a grand opening to attempt to be so generous that the restaurant would go out of business.
6. He is a perfectionist
Although he speaks honestly and dresses casually, it would be a mistake to assume that Garutti is not a superb professional. In fact, he has a keen eye for producing the perfect atmosphere at Shake Shack locations. He does this by keeping an eye on the details while having the big picture in mind. He has stated in the past that he despises small imperfections like ketchup stains.
5. He started out with a hot dog cart
Incredibly, the millions of dollars brought in by Shake Shack locations each day are all owed to a hot dog stand. One of Garutti’s first ventures into the hospitality industry was a hot dog stand that he ran. He used nearby restaurants to supply the food and ingredients. This was a highly popular stand that grew into a stadium vendor, and ultimately evolved to become Shake Shack.
4. Randy Garutti Net Worth
Naturally, the CEO of a massive restaurant chain like Shake Shack is not hurting for cash. His earnings have been reported to top $6.7 million. However, this sum is only what he has earned as compensation for his role in management. His real wealth lies in the fact that he has a 7% share in Shake Shack. These shares are estimated to be worth more than $46 million.
3. He has great plans for the future
Most people would be satisfied with being at the helm of a chain that boasts over 100 locations across the US and other countries. However, ambitious individuals like Garutti are constantly seeking further growth. He hopes that Shake Shack will have over 450 locations in the near future. However, he is not blindly hoping for more success. Instead, he has been frank about the fact that the restaurant’s success depends on customer satisfaction. Providing a healthier fast food alternative, one that does not use hormones or antibiotics in its meat, will appeal to the new generation of consumers who are concerned with what they are eating.
2. He is dedicated to improving lives
In addition to growing the company, Garutti is devoted to making a positive impact on the world. This devotion is rooted in the philosophy of Shake Shack, which was created to build a stronger sense of community in its location. As well, Garutti uses the popularity of the chain to provide assistance for charitable organizations. For instance, one location raised over $285,000 in a single month for No Kid Hungry, a charity which helps provide food for needy children.
1. His restaurants outperform McDonald’s
Although Shake Shack is growing in popularity, the giant in the fast food industry is still McDonald’s. However, Shake Shack locations actually perform better on average than McDonald’s restaurants. The $4 million annual performance of the average Shake Shack location is more than double the performance of the average McDonald’s location.
Randy Garutti: what the Shake Shack CEO reads on his way to work
Snapchat’s quick-hit news shots help him to understand consumers
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On the hoof: Randy Garutti © Pascal Perich/FT
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Janina Conboye
January 22, 2017
5
I love getting my headphones on at 6am, listening to a mellow playlist, taking the subway with a coffee and a banana and being with all the people of New York City.At 6am it is a very different crowd to that at 8am — more diverse. I do not mind dark mornings, either. Getting started before everybody else means I feel like I am getting ahead.I commute to Shake Shack’s offices in Union Square either on the subway or I ride my bike. New York has become a biking city. If I am not cycling, I work out or do yoga before work. I get to my desk by 8am.I have lived all over the US running restaurants, but I was born in New York and have been back for 17 years. I live on the Upper West Side, but I love London — there is no other place I go in the world, including in the US, where I feel so much at home.I am on the road about 40 to 50 per cent of the time. Recently I was in LA, San Francisco and Boston in three days. It goes in spurts. There will be some weeks where I do not travel at all — other times I will be in Asia for two weeks.One of my biggest roles is to figure out where Shake Shack should go and how it should feel, so I have to go places. Sometimes I have just a day to understand somewhere as much as I can before I make multimillion dollar decisions on whether to expand there.More from The Commuter
Sarah Wood: what the Unruly CEO reads on the move
A daily walk provides time to reflect on memes and mash-ups
When I arrive somewhere, I first go and find out something new about food. I need to understand all the new cool things that are happening in a city. For example, when I came to London recently for the opening of a branch near Leicester Square, the first thing I did when I got off the plane was go to The Barbary, which serves food inspired by the cuisines of the Maghreb and the Levant.Flying overseas is the greatest. I have three kids and planes are the only place I cannot be disturbed because there is no WiFi. Generally I read or catch up on projects. News and magazinesI always read the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times websites. I also get news from people I follow on Instagram and Twitter, but now more than ever via Snapchat. The quick-hit news shots help me understand our consumers, and eventually maybe my kids.Fast Company is my favourite magazine. Every time I read it, I get ideas. Harvard Business Review’s in-depth studies highlight what great companies are doing. The New Yorker is great, its cartoons are genius, and I go to GQ for men’s style.BooksI rarely read for pleasure because I do not have time. But I recently read The Power of the Habit by Charles Duhigg. It is a book about how people create, keep or break habits. Why do some people get addicted to alcohol, for example? Or why has it taken me until the age of 40 to develop my habit of 6am workouts?TelevisionI rarely watch television on a plane, but I love Game of Thrones. Billions, with Damian Lewis, is an amazing peek into the New York-Connecticut hedge fund world. HBO show Silicon Valley is a comedy about the valley era. MusicWhen I get to my office I put on any Spotify playlist that captures how I want to feel at that moment.
Square Names Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti to Board of Directors
July 20, 2017 04:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Square announced that Randy Garutti, CEO of Shake Shack, has joined its Board of Directors.
“I’m excited to share my experience in growing and scaling a business, and I’m thrilled to learn from and advise such a dynamic and talented team.”
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“Like Shake Shack, Square started small. It has since grown quickly but mindfully into an international public company,” said Garutti. “I’m excited to share my experience in growing and scaling a business, and I’m thrilled to learn from and advise such a dynamic and talented team.”
“Randy has successfully led Shake Shack through significant expansion, and his day-to-day operational experience scaling a business will be a great asset to both Square and our sellers,” said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square. “His passion for acting small while getting big is directly aligned with Square’s principles, and we’re excited to have him on the team.”
Garutti has served as Shake Shack's Chief Executive Officer and on its board of directors since April 2012. Prior to leading Shake Shack, Garutti was the Director of Operations at Union Square Hospitality Group, working with CEO Danny Meyer for more than 17 years, overseeing operations for all USHG restaurants. In addition, Garutti served as General Manager of numerous acclaimed restaurants, including Union Square Cafe and Tabla. Garutti graduated from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration in 1997.
Square’s Board of Directors also includes Jack Dorsey, Roelof Botha, Paul Deighton, Jim McKelvey, Mary Meeker, Ruth Simmons, Larry Summers, and David Viniar.
About Square, Inc.
Square, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) creates tools that help sellers start, run, and grow their businesses. Square enables sellers to accept card payments and also provides reporting and analytics, next-day settlement, and chargeback protection. Square’s point-of-sale software and other business services help sellers manage inventory, locations, and employees; access financing; engage customers; and grow sales. Square Cash is an easy way for businesses and individuals to send and receive money, and Caviar is a food ordering service for popular restaurants. Square was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Ireland, and the UK.
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2017 Golden Chain Award winner: Randy Garutti
A focus on quality in food and service helps burger chain flourish
Jonathan Maze | Oct 01, 2017
Sometimes, it pays to listen to your kids. Just ask Shake Shack Inc. CEO Randy Garutti.
Shake Shack has had a reputation for quality since 2004, when founder Danny Meyer opened a hot dog cart in New York City that would become one of the country’s leading fast-casual chains.
Meet all of the 2017 Golden Chain winners >>
The chain’s burgers and frozen custard drew raves from customers, generated long lines, spurred a highly anticipated IPO in 2015, and led to 40-percent annual revenue growth.
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But Shake Shack had a problem: The fries. Sure, they were good. But they were the frozen, crinkle-cut variety that didn’t seem to fit with the brand’s mantra of freshness. Customers wondered why the chain didn’t offer freshly cut fries, like In-N-Out Burger or Five Guys.
So, in 2013, Shake Shack tried fixing it.
“After years and probably $1 million of retrofits, we launched what we believed was the best French fry ever,” Garutti said. “And everyone hated it.”
And he means everyone.
“We’d do taste tests and my kids would be like, ‘Dad, I like the old ones better. Why are you doing this?’” Garutti said. “I was like, ‘Aw, come on, kids, you don’t know anything, you’re just kids.’ And they were right.”
The lesson? Don’t just listen to your kids, but to your staff. The Shake Shack team wasn’t behind the switch, either. The old fries were good, and easier to make, so why change it?
Shake Shack
Six months later, Shake Shack brought back the frozen, crinkle-cut fries, but with more natural ingredients. The chain also had to reformulate the recipe to meet standards required in the United Kingdom ahead of opening a location in London.
“When you believe a decision is right, when do you switch back?” Garutti asked. “It’s just listening —
listening to your team.”
But the French fry crisis has been one of few missteps in Shake Shack’s 13-year history, a mere speedbump on the way toward a global presence — and a Golden Chain award winner.
Between 2014 and 2016, Shake Shack’s U.S. system sales increased 130 percent, to $277.3 million from $120.5 million, making it the fastest-growing large chain in the U.S. over that period, according to NRN Top 200 data. Much of the growth came from unit count. Domestic unit count doubled, from 36 locations to 71 units, over that period, according to NRN data.
Domestic unit volume averages an estimated $4.6 million, the second highest among limited-service chains, after Chicago-based Portillo’s.
As of June 28, Shake Shack operated 134 units systemwide, 75 of which were domestic, company-operated locations.
In 2015, Shake Shack engineered one of the most highly anticipated initial public offerings in restaurant history, with the stock up 118 percent after the first day of trading.
Shake Shack has become a major player in the fast-casual segment and one of the best-known brands among better burger concepts that have been stealing market share from larger chains in recent years.
In Garutti’s opinion, the chain has tapped into demand for quality, both in food and service.
“If you really look at what made even fast food great decades ago, it was a place where communities gathered,” he said. “We believe above everything else that Shake Shack is a community gathering place. People of all ages, of all income levels — this is a place where people want to be together. And then you add the premium ingredients, the story of Danny Meyer and the great hospitality. But the reality is, what we’re building is a great community gathering place.”
The commitment to community was personified during Hurricane Harvey. Shake Shack’s relatively new location in Houston was closed because workers couldn’t get there due to flooding. But a handful of workers showed up anyway and cooked burgers for the Houston police.
“We just cooked burgers and gave them away,” Garutti said.
Garutti has worked with Meyer and Union Square Hospitality Group for years. He was a general manager at Union Square Cafe and Tabla, and director of operations for the group’s restaurants. He was named Shake Shack CEO in 2012, when the concept was still a burgeoning chain popular among burger lovers.
“I’ve been lucky,” he said. “I had a few mentors who have changed the direction of my life. I know about leadership from them.”
One was Meyer, Shake Shack’s chairman, who is “better than anybody in the world, all day, every day, at telling people what’s important,” Garutti said.
Peter Mauss/ESTO
Shake Shack in the Theater District of New York City
Another leader was highly regarded Seattle restaurateur Chris Canlis, for whom Garutti worked years ago.
“His was a life of generosity, sincerity and integrity,” Garutti said. “When you can be generous and be centered toward others, not yourself. When you can serve your team. These are the things people look toward from their leaders, to see a real person to be a part of and to emulate.”
“People leave their leaders, not their company,” he added. “Shake Shack as a company is so strong because of the leaders they develop.”
Shake Shack has made it a mission to develop a culture of what it calls “enlightened hospitality.” And the chain gives workers raises well above local minimums in an effort to attract and keep employees.
That can be difficult for a publicly traded company, with investors worried about margins. But for Shake Shack, total dollar growth is more important than margins. And the higher pay has translated into better service, a benefit for the company.
“As a public company, you have bigger pressures,” Garutti said. “It always makes big decisions difficult. But we don’t lead the company for percentages. We lead it for dollars. And we make a whole lot of dollars.
“If we go down as a percentage because we’re taking care of the team, we’re rising in overall sales and profit.”
Contact Jonathan Maze at jonathan.maze@penton.com
Shake Shack: Recipes & Stories
264.14 (Apr. 3, 2017): p68+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
* Shake Shack: Recipes & Stories
Randy Garutti and Mark Rosati. Clarkson Potter, $26 (240p) ISBN 978-0-553-45981-4
Garutti and Rosati, respectively the CEO and culinary director of Shake Shack, unveil a must-read chronicle for fans of Danny Meyer's famous eatery. This origin story is also a treatise on restaurant management, with chapters on corporate culture, the marketing efforts behind opening a new location, and a who's who covering every aspect of the operation, including the hot dog supplier, the furniture maker, and their graphic designer. Among the several behind-the-scenes tales is a whopper on how a million-dollar mistake involving French fries ultimately provided invaluable lessons in creating a superior fried chicken sandwich. The 70 recipes cover burgers, dogs, crinkle-cut fries, and shakes in their many varieties. Recreating a Shack burger is one part achievable (smash-cook them on a cast iron griddle) and one part impossible (butcher Pat LaFrieda's top secret beef blend). Still, the fun is in the trying, especially with various guest chef burgers such as David Chang's Momofuko shrimp stack, with beef and shrimp patties dressed in a sauce of mayo, ketchup, and miso paste, as well as the Shack's elusive peanut butter bacon burger. Peanut butter is also integral in the healthy dog biscuit recipe. The authors' choice to include a pumpkin spice shake over their epic peanut butter frozen concoction can only be attributed to brain freeze. (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Shake Shack: Recipes & Stories." Publishers Weekly, 3 Apr. 2017, p. 68+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A489813765/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=454a9033. Accessed 10 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A489813765
Inside Shake Shack’s First Cookbook
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Take a peek at the beloved burger chain's first collection of recipes
by Daniela Galarza May 10, 2017, 2:55pm EDT
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“It’s kind of this amazing accident that happened,” marvels Randy Garutti, CEO of Shack Shack, the burger chain restaurateur Danny Meyer founded as a kiosk in a NYC park in 2004. In a week, Shake Shack’s rapid growth and popularity manifests with its first cookbook hitting bookstores: Shake Shack: Recipes & Stories, written by Garutti, along with culinary director Mark Rosati, and author Dorothy Kalins, is just as fun as the restaurant — which has 131 locations and plans to open 24 more this year.
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It’s Shake Shack’s World, You’re Just Eating In It
Cruising past the cover, it looks almost like a yearbook — though not as literally as Big Gay Ice Cream’s 2015 book — with stories about Meyer’s inspiration for the first Shack, his initial resistance to expansion, business insights he learned along the way, and those first back-of-the-envelope-style menu plans. Rosati shares almost all of the company’s recipes, though unfortunately he isn’t giving away any real secrets here. The processes have been adapted for the home cook, and Garutti told Eater that only “six people” in the world know the real recipe for Shake Shack’s signature sauce.
The recipe in the book for Shack sauce is a mixture of Hellman’s, Dijon, Heinz, pickle juice, salt, and pepper. “We make our own from scratch,” Garutti says, but when he and Rosati first started testing recipes for the book they came to the conclusion that these weren’t recipes “most people would want to make at home,” because they were labor-intensive, “messy,” and time-consuming.
“We didn’t want this to sit on your shelf, we wanted to put out something you would actually reference,” Garutti says. Ultimately the authors decided to adapt recipes using easier-to-find ingredients like store-bought mayonnaise rather than ask people to make their own mayonnaise from scratch. Because of that, the book is for super fans and those who want to learn how to mimic Shack’s taste without having to buy any fancy equipment.
Organized by menu item, each major category — burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, concretes — gets its own “Anatomy” section. This is where some of Shake Shack’s secrets are revealed, such as hints about the Pat LaFrieda burger blend, the brand of chocolate sprinkles used in chocolate concretes, and the type of salt that seasons those crinkle cut fries.
When asked if they make Shake Shack recipes at home, Garutti says he’s “a grill burger guy” and prefers to go to a Shack for his griddle top fix. But Rosati says, “I do actually. These days my idea is just using great meat, a great bun, and cooking it properly. In terms of the toppings and what I put on there, I leave it up to [my guests]. I just like to put ton a different stuff on my table, different sauces, condiments, and let them build their burger. I want everyone to have fun with it.”
Shake Shack: Recipes & Stories will be released on May 16 and is available for pre-order now.
We tried Shake Shack burger recipe from new cookbook: How's it taste?
The ShackBurger we prepared in the Tribune test kitchen tasted a lot like the fresh one we ordered in from a nearby Shake Shake. The vanilla shake, though, was not as thick and creamy as the restaurant version. (Food styling by Lisa Schumacher.) (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)
Nick KindelspergerContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
Does anyone need a cookbook for a hamburger? That's the question behind "Shake Shack: Recipes & Stories," the brand new cookbook by the wildly successful New York-based restaurant chain. Considering just about every American has at one time or another flipped a beef patty, this seems like a stretch. But if, like me, you've a serious fan of Shake Shack's ultra-beefy burger, you might pick up this book in hopes of uncovering any secrets.
Shake Shack doesn't reveal all of its cards. The company's much-loved ShackSauce is apparently behind lock and key, so the one given is seriously labeled "close enough." You also won't find the exact blend of beef that goes into the patties, though a number of suggestions are given.
Even with these caveats, the book walks through the basic process of how each burger is made, including the method for smashing the burger on the griddle, a method, that should be noted, was decidedly out of fashion when Shake Shack opened in the early millennium. And while you won't get the exact blend, the book does a good job of walking through what each cut adds to the flavor of the final beef patty.
Of course, there's only one way to decide whether the recipe given is close to a burger you'd find at Shake Shack, and that's to have our test kitchen cook one according to the book and then compare it to the original.
And the consensus?
Honestly, the two burgers really did taste similar. We chose the beef blend of 80 percent chuck and 20 percent short rib, which the book claimed would result in a "richer blend." Each bite was remarkably beefy, with a nice sear from the smashing technique. Even the not-quite Shack-Sauce tasted remarkably like the real deal.
Shake Shack has two locations in Chicago, with a third on the way (not to mention the outlet in suburban Skokie). But if you live farther away or want to re-create those burgers in the comfort of your own home, this book is a must order.
We can't say the same about the shakes. We also tested the vanilla shake recipe, but that didn't go nearly as well. The two tasted almost nothing alike.
Whether or not you'll care about the story behind the first Shake Shack location in Manhattan's Madison Square Park probably depends on if you lived in New York around that time. As a former resident, the initial hype of the restaurant was real. I used to work across the street, and as a newly hired employee, I was given the task of standing in the insane line on a number of occasions to buy burgers for the higher-ups.
nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com