The top 25 highest paid executives at publicly traded restaurant companies did well for themselves in 2010. Technomic researched filings on the 60 publicly traded companies coming up with a trove of data, from which these figures were distilled.
While Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz led the pack with $21.7 million in total compensation, it was McDonald’s with the most executives in the ranking—five—led by CEO James A. Skinner at $17.6 million.
Schultz was at the top of the heap despite a 22 percent decrease in his bonus from 2009, dropping to a puny $1.3 million, despite the chain’s profit margin increasing by a whopping 121 percent over the same time period.
Pulling up the bottom of the list is Roland C. Smith, CEO of the former Wendy’s/Arby’s Group (which saw a 190 percent drop in profits). Smith came in with a relatively modest $3.4 million.
Also of interest, the list is no longer the exclusive bastion of CEOs. Four CFOs and even two COOs made it in.
Company | Name, Title | 2010 Total Compensation |
| Starbucks Corp. | Howard Schultz, CEO | $21,733,013 |
| McDonald’s Corp. | James A. Skinner, CEO | 17,574,125 |
| Yum! Brands Inc. | David C. Novak, CEO | 14,613,906 |
| Yum! Brands Inc. | Jing-Shyh S. Su, CEO, China Div. | 14,318,020 |
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. | Steve Ells, Co-CEO | 14,095,870 |
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. | Monty Moran, Co-CEO | 13,449,506 |
| McDonald’s Corp. | Ralph Alvarez, COO | 9,955,538 |
| Darden Restaurants Inc. | Clarence Otis, Jr., CEO | 7,656,703 |
| Ruby Tuesday Inc. | S.E. Beall, III, CEO | 6,672,484 |
| Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. | Michael A. Woodhouse, CEO | 6,183,455 |
| McDonald’s Corp. | Timothy J. Fenton, President, Asia, Middle East, Africa | 6,129,118 |
| McDonald’s Corp. | Denis Hennequin, President, Europe | 5,678,020 |
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. | Jack Hartung, CFO | 5,620,539 |
| Yum! Brands Inc. | Graham D. Allan, CEO, International | 5,573,508 |
| Domino’s Pizza Inc. | J. Patrick Doyle, CEO | 5,573,316 |
| McDonald’s Corp. | Peter J. Bensen, CFO | 4,981,715 |
| Darden Restaurants Inc. | Andrew H. Madsen, COO | 4,689,685 |
| Jack in the Box Inc. | Linda Lang, CEO | 4,503,110 |
| Yum! Brands Inc. | Richard T. Carucci, CFO | 4,336,311 |
| Panera Bread Company | Ronald M. Shaich, Former CEO | 3,915,630 |
| Bob Evans Farms Inc. | Steven A. Davis, CEO | 3,861,593 |
| Starbucks Corp. | Clifford Burrows, President, Starbucks | 3,790,345 |
| Cheesecake Factory Inc. | David Overton, CEO | 3,611,812 |
| Starbucks Corp. | Troy Alstead, CFO | 3,457,984 |
| Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc. | Roland C. Smith, CEO | 3,436,781 |
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