Ron Shaich

And I can tell you, as an operator, I know which of my vendors are any good and which aren't.

They were so out of control.

Sometimes they billed me.

Sometimes they didn't.

Sometimes they delivered.

Sometimes they didn't.

I'm sure to this day, I still owe money.

But the point of the story is simply to say they had a lot of issues.

I saw the opportunity to apply what I'd learned in the cookie business to the French bakery business, and it led to a merger.

We took 60% of the company, and they kept 40%, and then split it up.

That company, Au Bon Pain Co.

Inc., which we formed, was my cookie store, and their three French bakeries was the company we ended up literally selling for $7.8 billion in 2017.

But the point of the story is the first thing that we actually really figured out was the possibility, the opportunity of what Obonpent represented.

And I would be working on the counter and customers would walk in and say, I want that baguette.

And I'd say, sure.

And they'd say, slice it.

I'd start to slice it.

You know how you slice bread.

You slice it like this.

And they'd say, no, slice it from top to bottom.