Creating FoodService Director's "20 Most Influential"

On Thursday we released a list that is sure to create a little buzz, some serious discussion and maybe even a bit of controversy. It is our inaugural “20 Most Influential,” a list of the people—and one institution—that the editors at FoodService Director believe are having the biggest impact on non-commercial foodservice. For the full list, click here.

The list is an eclectic group, because we decided early on that we were not going to limit our search to operators or even industry professionals. We know that there are people out there who have helped create change in one or more of your market segments without even realizing it, or without having worked a single day in a cafeteria.

When we conceived this idea back in June of 2011, I thought this was going to be a slam-dunk to produce, especially because we had decided on such a broad definition. I originally proposed the number 50 to the group, before we decided that we didn’t want to be tied to a specific number. Even then, my fear was not of being able to populate the list but of having enough space in the magazine to do justice to each honoree.

As it turned out, identifying those people who are truly influential in the industry, or even in a particular segment, proved to be a daunting task. There are many, many great operators out there who are doing marvelous things in their operations or whose efforts touch the professional lives of our readers and their businesses. But most of them didn’t make our list because their ideas and concepts haven’t yet made an impact on the industry at large, or because their sphere of influence is limited to their local communities. We wanted to be sure that we could defend every person on the list as having, in one form or another, the most distinct impact on foodservice. It would be okay—even desirable—for people to look at the list as say, “How could you put together a list like this and not include Person X?” What we wanted to avoid was hearing the response, “How could you include Person Y on this list?”

We think we’ve achieved that goal, but it was not reached without a lot of input, a lot of discussion and a lot of soul-searching. Some of the people, such as Michelle Obama, were easy choices. Others required lengthy debates. Some people made the list because of specific programs they’ve initiated or concepts they’ve created, while others were chosen because their wisdom and counsel have helped shaped the success of other professionals in the industry.

There are a few people from the supply side—not because of the products they produce or sell but because of the passion they have for this business and the lengths they will go to help operators achieve their goals. Two names on the list aren’t individuals but groups of people whose influence foodservice professionals feel on a daily basis. And finally, we chose to include one institution, The Culinary Institute of America, because the administrators at the CIA have made it a goal of theirs to raise the perception of non-commercial foodservice in the eyes of their students and in the view of the restaurant industry as a whole.

In our June issue we will detail why we chose each of the honorees. It is a list we are proud of, and one that we can defend. But, as with all lists, there is a large measure of subjectivity involved. We are sure that readers will have their own suggestions and their own reasons for considering people who didn’t make our list. We welcome that discussion and we’ll be happy to keep the debate going in the pages of the magazine and online. So we invite you to call us, email us, tweet us, or post your comments on our Facebook page. Let the debate begin.