What’s going to be Ron Shaich’s next Panera Bread?
Shaich, Panera’s cofounder, already has a few businesses in mind, including the Life Alive chain that specializes in plant-based meals and the Level99 venture that combines “escape room” puzzles with craft beer and a restaurant menu.
Both are Massachusetts-born businesses Shaich plans to take out of state for the first time in 2024, with the financial backing of his investment firm, Act III Holdings. Act III will bring Life Alive to the Washington, D.C., market, where Act III has already had significant success with Tatte. Meanwhile, Level99 will open its second location at Providence Place, following a 2021 debut at the Natick Mall; after that comes D.C. and Chicago. And Shaich said the 38-store Tatte group will enter the New York market next.
These expansions, Shaich said, could make 2024 the fastest-growing year for Act III since its inception in 2018.
Shaich revisits his well-known career arc in his new book, “Know What Matters,” published by Harvard Business Review. Shaich famously turned a Boston cookie shop into the Au Bon Pain café chain, and then used the Au Bon Pain business to launch the wildly successful Panera Bread chain. The Boston-area businessman engineered the sale of Panera to European investment firm JAB Holding Co. in a 2017 deal worth $7.5 billion.
From there, Shaich brought like-minded colleagues together to form Act III, to invest $250 million in the next generation of market-leading restaurant and entertainment concepts. Shaich says the Act III portfolio is worth more than $1 billion today, including a stake in the now-publicly traded Cava.
In fact, that Mediterranean-style café chain is Act III′s biggest success so far. Cava went public in June. It now has more than 300 locations, and a $4.6 billion market value.
Act III’s partners aren’t looking for an exit, at least not anytime soon. If a Cava-style IPO happens, great. If not, Act III could remain with a business for years, if not decades, Shaich said. (Case in point: Early investors in Cava apparently didn’t bolt last week when the lockup period expired from its IPO.)
“When we’re in the boardroom, we’re not sitting there talking about the liquidity event,” Shaich said. “We’re actually talking about helping guide them and helping them scale and succeed. . . . We’re not trying to produce a return for somebody so we can raise our next fund.”
Shaich put in long hours as Panera chief executive, and even moved to St. Louis for a few years to run the company, before returning to the Boston area in 2001 and opening a corporate office here. He’s still working hard — just not as hard.
“I’m having a great time,” Shaich said. “It doesn’t hurt that we’re winning.”
Marching to a different drummer
The Four Seasons, or Bourbon Street?
Some guests at the swank hotel on Boylston Street were treated to a miniparade on Dec. 10 of teenaged musicians from the Hamilton-Garrett Center for Music & Arts and a “second line” of impromptu parade marchers.
That second line consisted of attendees at the Museum of African American History’s annual fund-raising gala, which drew about 300 people and raised about $500,000. Before that dramatic New Orleans-style exit, the museum honored three “Living Legends” for their community contributions: local Dunkin’ franchisee Clayton Turnbull, Liberty Mutual Foundation head Melissa MacDonnell, and former Brown University president Ruth Simmons.
Museum president Noelle Trent wanted to wrap up the proceedings in a memorable way. Thus, the parade. She led the way, carrying a gold umbrella.
“We’re changing things up a little bit,” said Trent, who joined in June. “We want people to come knowing they’re going to have a good time but also to expect the unexpected. We’re always going to keep people on their toes.”
That’s especially true if donors are encouraged to join a parade on their way out the door.
ABC honors new slate of all-star players
Plenty of Boston’s power players have been described as “all-stars” by Rick Dimino, the former chief executive of the A Better City business group.
But Dimino, who stepped down this year, sometimes uses an even stronger superlative, involving one of his favorite Red Sox stars.
During ABC’s latest annual Norman B. Leventhal Awards on Dec. 4, honoring contributors to Boston’s “built environment,” chair James Tierney handed out one of the awards to Dimino.
“Every once in a while, when Rick introduces someone he deeply admires, . . . he unleashes the highest praise that he can imagine,” said Tierney, an executive at real estate brokerage JLL. “Rick, you’re not simply an all-star. You are, as you would say, ‘Our Carl Yastrzemski.’ ”
That night, ABC honored three other “Carl Yastrzemskis” for their contributions to this city: architect Alex Krieger, Northeastern University professor Ted Landsmark, and Boston Harbor Now president Kathy Abbott.
After presiding over the Leventhal awards show for years, Dimino found himself in the odd position of being feted on stage instead. He did confess to one “Carl Yasztremski move” he made as chief executive: convincing his eventual successor Kate Dineen to relocate to Boston from New York nearly five years ago. “That was us outtrading New York,” Dimino said. “In my own way, we got to defeat the curse of Babe Ruth by getting Kate Dineen to come here.”
Neal, McGovern say issues should trump politics
All is not merry and bright on Capitol Hill.
You don’t need to hear from a congressperson to know this. But representatives Richie Neal and Jim McGovern will remind you.
The two Democrats bemoaned the extreme partisanship they’re seeing in D.C. during separate speeches last week to the New England Council — Neal spoke at the Boston Harbor Hotel on Monday, while McGovern was at Suffolk University on Friday.
Neal talked about how some unnamed members of Congress badmouth colleagues during cable TV shows, to raise campaign donations. Neal said he tries to stick to the issues.
“It’s very hard to say to a Republican, ‘look, let’s talk about this issue’ after you’ve been on the cable shows, criticizing them,” Neal said. “You have to see them in the hallway the next morning.”
On Friday, McGovern recounted an encounter with a critic of President Biden the previous day after flying into Bradley International Airport.
“He said, you know Joe Biden is guilty as hell, and you’re fighting against an impeachment inquiry.’' McGovern said. “I said, but [guilty] of what?’ Then he turned to me, and he said, ‘you’re a blank and blank piece of whatever.’ I was like, ‘Thank you for sharing, I’m going to put you down as undecided.’”
Trapping some Christmas spirit
Maybe someone should get Jim Knott Jr. a red hat and a fake white beard for this holiday season. The chief executive of Northbridge manufacturer Riverdale Mills just delivered a big gift to the city of Gloucester: 10,000 pounds of wire to make enough lobster traps to assemble them into a 40-foot Christmas tree.
Event organizer David Brooks said the tree contains 400 traps, a significant number this year in light of the 400th anniversary of the city’s founding. Lobstermen used to lend traps for the tree in the past, but this time Brooks needed more than the typical amount.
So Brooks turned to Knott, whose father essentially invented the wire mesh lobster trap in the 1960s. Knott said he initially was reluctant to give away so much wire, but he thought about his dad, and figured this tree would be a great way to honor his family’s legacy in the lobstering industry. Brooks Trap Mill in Maine donated in-kind services, to match Riverdale’s gift and assemble the traps. (Brooks is not related to the family-owned trap maker.)
Gloucester’s lobster trap tradition dates back to 2001. Once the season ends, the borrowed traps would typically be given back to the lobstermen. But this time they’ll be stored, and lent out to youth groups each summer, making Knott’s quirky donation the kind of gift that keeps on giving.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.