Ron Shaich

And the one thing, if you're in a public company, and I've been involved in any number of public companies, most of its valuation is generated by its possibility of growth.

And you have to actually deliver that.

I know it was very clear to me in the early 90s that Au Bon Pain was limited in its growth.

It was great in Boston, New York, D.C., Chicago, but it didn't work in the malls in L.A.

It didn't work in the malls in Chicago.

in Missouri.

And we ended up backward integrating and we ended up building a big international business.

We said, if we're the best in the United States at high density urban feeding, there's more opportunities abroad than just the United States.

We also began building a manufacturing business.

We had always had manufacturing skills and built what was the

At that time, the largest frozen dough plant ever built in the Midwest.

And then I ended up buying a little 19-store chain in St.

Louis called the St.

Louis Bread Company.

And I saw that, again, at that time as a gateway to the suburban marketplace.

Old Bun Pen would be urban.

The St.

Louis Bread Company could be suburban.

And it was interesting.

And it was at that point, this would have been 93, 94, 95, I think,