Path to Power Paul Avery

Paul Avery is the current CEO and President of World of Beer Bar & Kitchen. Paul has led the concept from a craft beer bar in 2013, to a highly successful concept with broad offerings, appeal and strong unit economics.

He is also the CEO & President of Mandola’s Italian Kitchen. Along with Damian Mandola, the co-founder of Carrabba’s Italian Grill, the Mandola’s Fast Casual concept has proven to be an exceptionally well-positioned concept with considerable growth potential.

Prior to joining the World of Beer team, Paul was with OSI Restaurant Partners (now Bloomin’ Brands Inc.) for 22 years. He helped grow the small restaurant group to a multi-billion dollar brand. Paul developed his career with OSI from a local single unit Managing Partner to Chief Operating Officer of OSI Restaurant Partners Inc., serving as President of Outback Steakhouse during their explosive growth years. As COO, he oversaw the operations and growth of Outback Steakhouse (domestic and international), Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Lee Roy Selmon’s, Cheeseburger in Paradise, and the A La Carte Event Pavilion. During Paul’s tenure, the organization grew into a global enterprise of over 1,500 locations, with systemwide revenues in excess of $4.5 billion and an employment base in excess of 100,000. He also served on the OSI Board of Directors.

Paul has had an active career supporting numerous industry associations and serving as a Board Director on many for-profit and nonprofit entities. Currently he serves on the Board of Directors for Suntrust Bank-Tampa Bay, the American Beverage Institute, Employment Policies Institute, is Chairman of the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA), and is a trustee for Paul Smith’s College, New York.

Paul has an associate degree in hotel and restaurant management from Middlesex County College and a bachelor’s degree from Kean University, New Jersey.

Paul lives in Tampa, Florida, with his family. He is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys the pursuit of excellence. Q: How did you get started in the hospitality industry? A: I started my restaurant career when I was 15 years old as a busboy in a New Jersey Diner. After High School, I studied hotel and restaurant management at Middlesex County College in New Jersey and then got a B.S. in management science. Shortly after graduating, I relocated to Florida, joined Steak & Ale as a Manager Trainee in ’82 and worked my way to being the youngest area supervisor at that point. After seven great years of experience and exposure to great leadership, I resigned to pursue another opportunity with a more progressive group and decided to join the Outback team in 1989, when there were only three locations. I was President at Outback for many of the formative/growth years and then went on to be the Chief Operating Officer of the OSI organization with a portfolio of 1,500 restaurants, covering 23 countries and a $4.5 billion annual revenue stream.

Q: Early in your career, what was the most valuable lesson you learned? A: There were two strong lessons I learned early on. I realized that not everyone shared the work ethic that I had, and that this trait would be a differentiator for me in my career, as I was willing and capable of working harder than most others around me. Secondly, it was evident that this was a “people” industry and that my skills in interacting with others would be a critical one in my career growth.

Q: Do you have any mentors who were instrumental in helping you achieve your goals? A: I’ve had many mentors in my career, most of them influencing me in a very positive way while some others showcased a style that I did not want to emulate. Ralph Silva was my first mentor, a retired Army staff sergeant with significant food service experience in the military. He kicked my butt every day in my teenage years and held me to a high level of detail and standard of “always give your best effort and do things right.” Following Ralph over the years, I’ve been exposed to many incredible leaders in Steak & Ale and Outback who have influenced my thinking, actions and career. Powerful takeaways for me being positive interaction with others, how to balance work, family and personal time, the vast importance of integrity, the appeal of a value-based culture, and the courage exemplified by my mentors to take calculated risks and keep pressing beyond their comfort zone.

Q: Can you describe your concept – World of Beer? A: WOB is an amazing concept that has gone through a massive transition in the past seven years. Starting with an exclusive craft beer platform, we’ve evolved the business model to one with broad appeal for our culinary offerings, spirit program and experiential elements. It’s a sophisticated concept that leads with craft beer and has a strong value proposition with culinary and beverage offerings that exceed customer expectations, and I believe, are best-in-class within our competitive set. All of this is within a fun, casual, spirited environment and provided by our valued WOB Stars who represent our business so well. Our people make the difference in our business and rally around our cultural emphasis, our “WOB Way,” and know that there’s truth in what we stand for and how we want to present the business to our customers.

Q: What do you attribute the growth of the brand to during the pandemic? A: We experienced a contraction of units during the pandemic of about 15%. Similar to others in the industry, the vulnerable operations prior to COVID were the ones that primarily did not make it on the backside. Additionally, many of our locations operated in states with significant seating restrictions and operating limitations. We’re so thankful to be experiencing a super strong rebound postpandemic and attribute this to the stability of our strong leadership team, managing partners, franchisees, concept positioning, and the quality of operations our team has exemplified prior to the pandemic.

Q: Can you explain to readers the measures you took during the pandemic to secure the company? A: I’m so proud of our entire team, for the sacrifices made during the past year and the leadership provided. We took swift and decisive action. First, we furloughed 92% of our team to allow them to access government assistance as soon as possible. We took proactive measures in contacting our lenders, supply partners and landlords to discuss the situation and how to navigate moving forward. We were so fortunate to have all of our major stakeholders look at WOB as a desirable partner and tenant and made significant concessions to bridge us through it all. With a commitment to upholding our standards, we identified cost efficiencies on every front and managed towards a more favorable financial model, which we’re benefitting from during the rebound today. During the pandemic, to the extent we could, we fed the families of our staff and management and provided bonus payments to our management to help them get through. Our team did an exemplary job of communicating throughout the entire pandemic period, to our internal and external stakeholders. As a result, we have an elevated relationship with our franchise community, certainly an outcome of our collaborative efforts to manage through this dark period. My personal mission was to assure the company remained solvent and our people were protected and to provide whatever effort was needed to assure this outcome.

Q: What is the greatest single factor in the success of your career? A: It’s a hard task to nail it down to one contributing factor, but I think people that I’ve worked with over the years would say that I’ve always set a high example of work ethic, exemplified the standards that I preach, and led with integrity, honesty and humility.

Q: Is there anything that you would like to share with Florida’s hospitality industry? A: Absolutely! Most importantly, I want to praise the efforts of Carol Dover, Dan Murphy, and the entire FRLA team. They worked tirelessly throughout the COVID pandemic to represent and protect our industry. We are in a most favorable place today in the state of Florida, due primarily to the efforts of the FRLA and the collaborative manner in which they interacted with Gov. DeSantis. Our Governor deserves so much gratitude for listening to our industry leaders, understanding the implications that COVID had on our people and business and managing toward the safe and positive outcome our industry enjoys today in Florida. It is essential that every restaurant and lodging business in Florida support and fuel the FRLA with an active membership. With the massive influx of people moving to Florida, we have a huge opportunity. There will continue to be unforeseen challenges that we need to address, along with unique opportunities our industry can capitalize upon in the years ahead. Our support of the FRLA will be essential if we want to optimize it all.