This website will be unavailable from Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, June 3, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.

                                                                                

79R16927 MAM-D

By:  Driver                                                       H.R. No. 2045



R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, For more than 40 years, Norman Brinker of Dallas has 
marked an ingenious professional path with his entrepreneurial 
spirit and directed ambition; and
	WHEREAS, Born in Denver, Colorado, in 1931, Mr. Brinker 
graduated from high school in Roswell, New Mexico, and attended the 
New Mexico Military Institute before joining the U.S. Navy; he 
subsequently won a berth on the 1952 U.S. Olympic equestrian team 
and competed in the 1954 Modern Pentathlon World Championships in 
Budapest; after his military service, he enrolled in the marketing 
program at San Diego State University and supported himself by 
selling cutlery door-to-door and managing a clothing import 
business; and
	WHEREAS, After college, Mr. Brinker joined entrepreneur 
Robert Peterson's company, which founded the Jack in the Box 
restaurants, and quickly rose through the ranks to become a major 
partner and leader in the rise of the franchise to national 
prominence; and
	WHEREAS, In 1965, this visionary professional identified a 
vacant niche in the restaurant business between fast–food chains 
and fine dining establishments, and started Steak & Ale restaurants 
to offer affordable, quality dining; the restaurants expanded 
rapidly and eventually merged with the Pillsbury Company; by 1982, 
Mr. Brinker was president of the Pillsbury Restaurant Group, the 
second-largest restaurant operation in the world; and
	WHEREAS, Mr. Brinker eventually invested in Chili's, Inc., 
when the organization only included 28 restaurants, and assumed the 
role of chairman and CEO; in 1991, Chili's was renamed Brinker 
International, and today operates five unique dining concepts with 
a total of 1,500 restaurants in 49 states, the District of Columbia, 
and 24 countries; the organization's innovator retired in 2000 but 
still serves as chairman emeritus of this widely successful 
company; and
	WHEREAS, A published author and recipient of the Horatio 
Alger Award, Mr. Brinker has personally mentored many of the 
restaurant industry's top executives and brightest stars, and he is 
truly an inspiration to resourceful, budding young business leaders 
across the globe; his rigorous pursuit of his dreams and his 
unfaltering dedication to quality dining are certainly worthy of 
special commendation; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas 
Legislature hereby honor Norman Brinker on his extraordinary 
professional accomplishments and extend to him sincere best wishes 
for continued success; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be 
prepared for Mr. Brinker as an expression of high regard by the 
Texas House of Representatives.