Donald Nickerson Smith (born 1940) is a restaurant executive for

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...

and other

fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

franchise restaurants in the latter half of the 20th century. Smith was senior executive vice president and COO of McDonald's Corporation, before leaving to become CEO of Burger King Corporation from 1977 to 1980, and then Diversifoods, the largest franchisee of Burger King, later leaving for

Pepsico PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

to improve sales in

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut, LLC is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldw ...

and

Taco Bell Taco Bell Corp. is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired ...

. Smith led the unsuccessful buyout of Diversifoods before resigning as CEO in 1985 to start a partnership with Holiday Inns Inc. and Investment Limited Partnership to form the Tennessee Restaurant Company. Smith's business practices helped shape the modern operational procedures and

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

models for the industry.

References

American food industry business executives Living people 1940 births McDonald's people Burger King people 20th-century American businesspeople {{restaurateur-bio-stub