Real Business Case For Incentive Travel
Texas Roadhouse CEO Continues to Champion Bottom Line Value & R.O.I. of Team Building Retreats & Incentive Travel
by Anne Thornley-Brown, President, Executive Oasis International
In April 2009, when the AIG effect was in full force ( http://bit.ly/aigeffect2 ), Texas Roadhouse CEO G.J. Hart stood up to a CNBC reporter’s scathing criticism and ridicule of his decision to proceed with the company’s annual retreat in the midst of a recession:
Please note, all videos have short commercials before the interviews:
Video: http://bit.ly/incentivetravel8
Here, G.J. Hart discussed his decision, defended the bottom line value of incentives & retreats and stressed the importance of building opportunities for giving back to the community into the itinerary:
Article: http://bit.ly/teambuildingroi6
Podcast: http://bit.ly/incentivetravelroi5
He discussed the company’s business strategy here:
Video: http://classic.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=748206824&play=1
G.J Hart’s stand earned him a lot of press coverage and, eventually, media respect and positive coverage. An ad campaign giving the same extent of exposure and coverage would have cost a small fortune.
A year later, the company is enjoying even stronger corporate performance:
“Amid the frenzy that enveloped the meetings industry early last year…..Texas Roadhouse CEO G.J. Hart unwittingly became one of the lone voices to articulate the business value of meetings, events and incentives.”
At the time of writing, Texas Roadhouse is holding the company’s annual Managing Partner Conference for 1,100 managers and their guests in New York City. Giving back to the community is always an important part of the company’s retreats and incentive trips:
http://bit.ly/incentivetravelroi7
His efforts seem to be paying off. Here is a video interview with G.J. Hart this week about the explosive growth of the company and its strong stock market performance.
Tough economic times are not slowing down the expansion of restaurant chain Texas Roadhouse
http://classic.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1467575226&play=1
CNBC seems to have warmed up to G.J. Hart. The company’s business strategies are clearly paying off and they are exploring the possibility of international expansion.
The Texas Roadhouse experience highlights the fact that the right business strategy supported by strategic team building and incentives to reward top performance can pay-off with a stronger bottom line.
Related:
Anne Thornley-Brown, M.B.A. @executiveoasis
Anne you are such a wonderful shining light for us events industry folk! Thank you for sharing this and for all the other intelligent, informative posts you’ve done to show the great advantages to business that events provide.
I find myself favoriting your posts often because I always want to have easy access to information that proves how important events/meetings/incentive travel are.
Thank you again for adding to my events PR arsenal!
Glad you like it Jenise. Texas Roadhouse is an excellent model for other companies wrt the emphasis they place on incentive travel, rewarding their people, team building, and giving back to the community. They deserve every bit of the the success they are enjoying and their CEO is very forward thinking and progressive.
I saw the interview with G.J. Hart a year ago and was so impressed with what he had to say, I wrote him a personal letter thanking him for supporting our industry. Since then, when I have a taste for steak, I support Texas Roadhouse. As a meeting planner, I guess you could say he’s my hero!