Fast-Food Chain President Urges Decisiveness in Lecture at UI

By Don Dodson, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

Nov. 14–CHAMPAIGN — To the president of Church’s Chicken, knowing what you want and being decisive are very good things even if you’re wrong.

Harsha Agadi, who gained control of the Atlanta-based fast-food chain in a private equity buyout three years ago, said he’s talked with students who say they’re “undecided” about what they want to do.

” ‘Undecided’ is a very dangerous word to use,” Agadi said. “You need to be decided at all times.”

That’s true when it comes to choosing a school and true when picking a place to work. “Whom you work with and for is even more important,” he said.

In outlining goals in life, “you’ve got to keep it simple,” he said. “If you can’t figure it out, don’t mess with it. If you can’t put it down on one page, don’t proceed forward.”

Speaking without notes, Agadi delivered the 10th V. Dale Cozad Lecture in Entrepreneurship on the University of Illinois campus Tuesday and put a premium on not wasting time.

“If you change management teams, don’t take time. Make the changes quickly,” he said. “Speed is more important than even the right decision.”

When you make decisions, “you’ve got to go with your gut,” he said. “You’re rarely going to go wrong.”

One reason Agadi was invited to give the Cozad lecture is his local connections. He serves on the board of the Champaign-based Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich Shop chain. Jimmy John Liautaud, the chain’s founder, was on hand for the lecture.

Agadi said Church’s is a 55-year-old company that has 1,600 stores, primarily in the southern United States. The chain is in 20 countries around the world, including Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Mexico and Indonesia, he said.

In fact, the chain which uses the name “Texas Chicken” abroad has 100 stores in Jakarta, Indonesia, Agadi said. The flavor of the chicken and the way it’s processed are the same overseas, he said. The only change is having white rice, rather than cole slaw, as a side dish.

Agadi, who was born in India and got his MBA from Duke University, said he chose to work in the food business because he felt it was safe and predictable.

“One of the best things Americans do is eat food,” he said.

And not necessarily healthy food, despite what people claim. He said Church’s has sold more fried chicken every year for the last six years.

“We don’t do what we say,” he said. “When it comes down to it, it’s taste, taste, taste.”

Agadi who said he’d never eaten chicken before coming to the U.S. said Americans “have perfected the science of fast food,” making the process of serving it efficient and replicable elsewhere. “It’s the most exportable industry the U.S. has.”

Agadi was president and CEO of Little Caesar Enterprises from 1997 to 2000.

When he took over at Church’s, he made quick changes. Accounting once done in Tulsa, Okla., is now done in Mumbai, India. And in the information technology area, Spanish-speaking people in India field questions from restaurants in northern Mexico and the southern U.S.

But India may not always be the most cost-efficient place for those services. “Tomorrow we might have to move operations to the Philippines or Vietnam,” he said. “And after that, maybe Africa.”

One audience member asked Agadi how he balances his support of globalization with investing in his own community. Agadi replied that by outsourcing certain services to India, Church’s reaps savings equivalent to opening 22 brand-new restaurants a year restaurants that would collectively employ 750 Americans.

“We invest it in more jobs,” he said. “You’ve got to look at the overall equation.”

Agadi said a onetime dishwasher for Church’s is now its largest franchisee, with 140 stores.

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