Walter G. Ehmer.
Ehmer is the CEO of Waffle House.
His compensation is $700,000 per year, for a company that makes on average $1.3 billion per year.
When COVID forced closures, and the company shut down 20% of its locations and lost 70% of its revenue, he took a 50% pay cut to keep money in the business and people working.
He gave a press conference where he said he wasn’t going to shut down any more locations because he doesn’t want to put any more people out of work.
“A lockdown is going to put a lot of people out of work,” Ehmer told Business Insider. “It’s really not about the business — it’s about the people. These people have jobs, they have livelihoods, they need to take care of their families.”
“The only reason we think that we would shut a dining room down at this point is if the local government made us do so,” Ehmer said.
“The true way to solve a crisis is to go stand in the middle of it, and figure out how to take care of people and figure out how to help put things back together,” Ehmer said. “That does not change regardless of what the crisis is.”
If you know anything about Waffle House and how they handle crisis, you know they have a jump team that comes in a gets their restaurants working again after things like hurricanes.
It’s so reliable that FEMA uses Waffle House closures as a metric of natural disaster severity.
But I think my favorite part of this was how he gave his press conference.
That’s the CEO in a fucking polyester work shirt and name tag. He is dressed the same way that his staff is in every restaurant in the country.
He could stand there in a $10,000 custom suit but he showed up in a work shirt and name tag like a fucking team player.
When he retires from Waffle House, some he needs to go into teaching executive management skills to other CEOs.
This guy should be the metric for how to run a company.
Libraries at business schools should be filled with theses from students getting MBAs on Waffle House management techniques, and other executives who don’t heed that advice should have their nose rubbed in them while beating beat with a rolled-up newspaper like a dog who shit on the carpet.
It’s simple, really.
It’s leadership.
Over 130 years ago, the US Cavalry figured it out.
FIRST, feed/water/care for the horses.
NEXT, feed and provide for the troops.
ONLY THEN, officers eat.
I love how the eater article tried to say waffle house fucked up because they’re a ‘family’ company who didn’t give everything away.
This is the same people who cozied up to Michelin starred chefs for a series and now trying to debase a comapny who was basically trying to stay open for the duration.
Quite impressive.