Ron Shaich

We were in the lead and had the opportunity to be one of the first large organizations to remove all artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, preservatives, really to push for what is now called clean food, removing the ultra.

And I know that we've made a difference.

I also think we've made a difference in the food culture.

When I grew up, the only choices were fast food and fine dining.

In the early 90s, as I think you and maybe some of your listeners know, we really...

developed the ideology that became what is called today fast casual.

It wasn't very complicated.

We began to look around and could see, it's been 92, 93, that one out of three consumers, one out of four consumers held their noses when they went into fast food.

And you said, what is it that they're looking for?

And I know we spent a year or two on the road listening to people.

And what you heard was that so many of these consumers, what they really sought was real food, environments that engaged them, served by people that cared.

And they actually wanted an experience that elevated their sense of self, not depleted it, which is what they experienced in fast food.

And we began to say, if we could create that kind of environment, we could create something that actually elevated people and that this was a powerful opportunity.

Now, I was trying to figure it out for my own company, but that ideology, that view of the world, which in the early 90s nobody thought would ever work,

That became the ideology that fuels what's called fast casual today, which is a $350 billion business.

Panera became the poster child for it.

Howard Schultz and Starbucks played a similar kind of paradigm, Steve Ells and Chipotle.

And I think together you saw the evolution of food culture.

I mean, I'm so pleased.

One of the things that we did was just say...