Nancy and Mark Oswald, Co-Owners – Franchisees, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, were honored at the 2010 Georgia Restaurant Association’s Crystal of Excellence Awards (GRACE) with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Here we look back at their careers in hospitality along with their viewpoints about the industry and their work.
Nancy got started in the restaurant industry more than 30 years ago, when she worked directly with New Orleans’ Grande Dame of Service and Hospitality, Ella Brennan. Ella took her under her wing and taught Nancy all aspects of running a restaurant, from scheduling servers and restructuring the banquet sales department, to running the in-house advertising agency and working with Chef Paul Prudhomme to get his recipes out of his head and down on paper.
“Undoubtedly, one of the most important things Ella, and later Ruth Fertel [the “Ruth†in Ruth’s Chris Steak House], taught me was to diversity my experience and skills, to know every department in the organization and cross-train wherever and whenever I could,†Nancy says.
For Mark, his first introduction to the industry was a summer job in the bakery of a state hospital, but it wasn’t until his college years at Tulane University, when he began running his fraternity kitchen and making money with it, that he realized he was a good fit for the field. His first full-time, permanent job post-college? Commander’s Palace, where he met Nancy.
Since then, the two moved to Atlanta and after a stint working for the Liberty House Restaurant Corporation launched Sizzling Steak Concepts. The franchise group successfully opened eight Ruth’s Chris Steakhouses and operates nine locations.
In April 2010, Mark and Nancy formed Steak House Concepts, LLC for the purpose of opening additional Ruth’s Chris restaurants. In May of this year, they purchased the Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and has also purchased development rights for a Ruth’s Chris restaurant in Charleston, S.C.
“We have been incredibly fortunate to have Ruth Fertel and Ella Brennan as role models and mentors. What they both taught us above all else is to be collaborative and to not let egos get in the way of progress,†Mark says. “Both Ella and Ruth demonstrated by example that if you put the success of the team first, personal success will most certainly follow. They also showed by example that it was critical to be passionate about whatever you were doing (or do something else!).â€
The pair have received numerous awards, including the 2008 Ruth U. Fertel Award by Ruth’s Hospitality Group, the highest accolade the company bestows. Their franchise is also the only one to have won the Franchise Leadership Team of the Year Award twice, in 2006 for its Atlanta/Centennial Park location and in 2008 for its Birmingham spot. Nancy was also named the 2005 Volunteer of the Year by the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB).
The two are active in their community, with Nancy serving on the committee for the Luckie-Marietta District and on the executive board of the ACVB.
Industry’s most pressing challenges: The state of the economy and the pressure on consumers’ pocketbooks continue to be challenges for every industry. More specifically, heightened issues of concern for the hospitality industry are governmental mandates legislating how we conduct business day-to-day and the on-going need to recruit new generations of leaders.
How they’d like their contribution to the Georgia restaurant industry to be remembered: We hope we have helped demonstrate that owning a restaurant—for any of us—is a POSSIBLE dream. Our industry provides many opportunities for advancement and a welcome point of entry to business ownership. It rewards hard work and determination as long as you are willing to take a few calculated risks along the way.
Greatest accomplishment: Professionally, watching the people within our franchise develop, mature and accept new challenges. We have witnessed the development of numerous careers—team members who have blossomed from side cooks to chefs, grown from bartenders to general managers. It doesn’t get much better than that!
