Nation's Restaurant News Debuts Restaurant Industry Power List

NEW YORK, Jan. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Penton's Nation's Restaurant News, the leading resource of business intelligence for executive decision-makers in the foodservice industry, has announced The Power List, exploring the 50 most influential individuals driving development in the restaurant industry.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140129/CL54163 )

"The restaurant industry, and business in general, is changing at a pace never before seen," says Sarah Lockyer, Editor-in-Chief of Nation's Restaurant News. "With this Power List, NRN set out to create a definitive list of the 50 most powerful people who are leading and shaping this change."

"This power matrix -- developed with the strength of our editorial authority -- accounts for every corner of the restaurant industry, from limited service to fine dining and from investment banking to menu development."

Ranking Nos. 1-10, and grouping the remaining 40 players, the Top 10 prove to be not only key players in the foodservice industry, but also some of the top influencers of global business dynamics. 

The Power List Top 10, as determined by Nation's Restaurant News are:

1. Howard Shultz, chairman, president and chief executive; Starbucks Corp.
2. Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-chief executive; Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.
3. Julia Stewart, chairman and chief executive, DineEquity Inc.
4. Neal Aronson, founder and managing partner, Roark Capital Group
5. Dan Cathy, chairman, president, and chief executive; Chick-fil-A Inc.
6. Sally Smith, president and chief executive, Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.
7. Don Thompson, president and chief executive, McDonald's Corp.
8. Brooke Johnson, president, Food Category; Scripps Networks Interactive Inc./ Food Network and Cooking Channel
9. Greg Creed, chief executive, Taco Bell
10. Sam Su, chairman and chief executive, Yum! Restaurants China

For complete profiles of all 50 people on The Power List, visit http://NRN.com/nrn-50-power-list-2014. Follow the discussion on Twitter (http://twitter.com/NRNOnline and via #NRNPowerList).

About Nation's Restaurant News
For more than 45 years, Nation's Restaurant News has served the news and information needs of foodservice professionals. Today, offering integrated media solutions for changing times, NRN is the media brand nearly 500,000 professionals turn to every month to help them tackle the challenges facing the foodservice industry. NRN is a multiple American Business Media Neal Award winner for quality journalism. For more information, please visit www.NRN.com.

About Penton
For millions of business owners and decision-makers, Penton makes the difference every day. We engage our professional users by providing actionable ideas and insights, data and workflow tools, community and networking, both in person and virtually, all with deep relevance to their specific industries. We then activate this engagement by connecting users with tens of thousands of targeted providers of products and services to help drive business growth. Learn more about our company at www.penton.com.

Penton is a privately held company owned by MidOcean Partners and U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Sarah Lockyer
Editor-in-Chief
Nation's Restaurant News
212.204.4392
[email protected]

SOURCE Penton