Published: November 17, 2009 09:08 pm      

LIFESTYLE: Good things still brewin' for Tonawanda native Jon Luther

BUFFALO — Jon Luther might now be the pride of the City of Tonawanda, but it took him quite a while to ascend to the peak of his profession.

Luther, the 66-year-old executive chairman of the board of directors for Dunkin Brands — the company that owns the Dunkin Donuts name — started out on Gibson Street. His father returned from World War II to begin working at Remington Rand; his mother did beautician work out of their home to make ends meet.

During a recent sit-down interview, Luther recalled his childhood days growing up in the Tonawandas. As a preteen, he attended Fletcher, Delaware and Highland elementary schools, and he played Little League baseball in the city.

His grandfather, Clarence “Sam” Luther, was the city’s chief of police and a 40-year force veteran who enjoyed sharing stories about his efforts to combat bootleggers during the days of Prohibition. Luther also recalled playing football and baseball with Barney and Charlie Hewitt, whose parents owned the Tonawanda News for several decades, in the front yard of the Hewitt home near Mullen Street.

“There are Midwestern values here,” he said during the interview, which was conducted following a Dunkin Donuts press event at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. “This is the city of good neighbors. That stayed with me my whole life.”

Prior to starting the sixth grade, the Luther family moved to the Brighton-Colvin area of the Town of Tonawanda. He began working at a barbershop washing floors before even entering Kenmore East High School, and while enrolled there he manned the grill at Henry’s Hamburgers. This early taste of the food service industry ultimately served to whet his appetite for that profession.

“I sort of enjoyed the hospitality aspect of it, the interconnection with the customers,” he said.

After graduating from Ken East in 1961, Luther enrolled in the liberal arts program at Canisius College but decided after three semesters that he’d gone the wrong way on life’s path. He took on several odd jobs, including a position making deliveries for a local pharmacy; while working there, he met his future wife, Sharon Dickman, who was an original cheerleader for the Buffalo Bills.

He worked those jobs for a couple years before going back to school, enrolling in the hotel and restaurant program at Paul Smith College — “I have a hospitality gene,” he cited as his reason for going back. He graduated in 1967, but not before marrying Sharon earlier that month.

“I hitchhiked home for the wedding, got married, went on a honeymoon, borrowed $5 of the wedding money, hitchhiked back to school and graduated,” he said.

Upon returning to Western New York, Luther worked as a cook/manager in the corporate cafeteria at Wurlitzer in North Tonawanda for a short time before becoming food service manager at Canisius.

He decided to get serious about his career after the couple had a son and daughter, taking a vending sales position with ARA Services (Now Aramark) in Philadelphia and becoming vice president of marketing by age 33.

“You have to work hard, but you also have to have the instincts to make the right choice at the right time,” he said of his initial success.

His instincts told him to leave ARA in 1982 to start his own company. Benchmark Services Inc. of Oakton, Va., spent 10 years buying and selling restaurant companies before folding in 1992, leaving him broke at age 50 and with two kids in college.

“I used to cross myself every time I would go to the ATM to take money out for groceries,” he said.

Luther opted to return home at that point, taking a job with Delaware North’s airport concessionaire branch, CA One Services. He helped turn that company’s $16 million deficit into a $35 million profit. Randy Brashier, who worked with Luther during this time, considered Luther’s work ethic and vision unparalleled.

“Jon was the innovator of food and beverage outlets being ‘branded.’ Under his leadership, airport bars and restaurants went from cold and drab outlets ... to vibrant and exciting concepts for which travelers were willing to spend more,” Brashier, now Dunkin Brands’ vice president of operations, said in an e-mail.

Taking notice were executives at Poyeye’s Chicken and Biscuits — another business that struggled to find its proper market share. Popeye’s hired him as president of the Atlanta-based company in 1997.

Proving to be Popeye’s spinach, Luther helped that company’s revenue grow every year and enabled its parent company, AFC, to go public in 2002.

“He immediately recognized the rich cultural heritage of Louisiana and the Cajun residents there,” said Brashier, who cited a “Louisiana Legends” menu featuring famous foods from that state as among Luther’s brainstorms. “This recognition generated incredible excitement from our franchisee partners, as well as our guests.”

By January 2003, Dunkin Brands had recruited him to do the same thing for its companies, making him CEO. Charged with overseeing Dunkin Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, Luther helped both eatery chains become prominent players in crowded fields.

“I instilled values-based leadership. I built a team steeped in those values,” he said.

Luther is also to be credited for an ad campaign that’s now instantly recognizable, Brashier said.

“He immediately recognized Dunkin Donuts and Baskin-Robbins as ‘rituals that revive,’ ” Brashier said. “He set the course for Dunkin Donuts’ ‘American Runs on Dunkin’ campaign and has (set) our company apart as a coffee leader.”

Luther abdicated his CEO title last year to devote more time to his family, which now includes four grandchildren. While still involved with Dunkin Brands in his chairman role, he said that he’s found more balance between work and family. He also returns home about six times per year, including any reunions held by his Ken East classmates.

“Going home grounds me. It just continues to humble me,” he said. “This is not an easy place to live, with the weather and the economy ... but there’s a certain quality to the Buffalo community.”

Qualities Luther said he learned from his former local employers — everything from the importance of learning every task in the company to how to inspire your workers — are what he credits with helping him achieve a summit that was once not even in sight.

“You have to learn to follow before you can lead, but I also learned that a leader without followers is just someone out for a walk,” he said. “The journey of my career should be underpinned by who I am: just a kid who started in the projects who got the chance and didn’t squander it.”

Brashier appreciates such qualities and has grown to value his time with Luther more as their 19-year relationship has progressed, he said.

“Jon has been an incredible role model for me and has exemplified to me how one balances a very dynamic business life with a strong identity at home as a husband, a father and a grandfather,” Brashier said. “When I'm in tough situations in business or at home, his examples have made it easier to navigate and succeed.”

Contact Paul Laneat 693-1000, ext. 116.