Virginia Beach, Va., Newspaper Salutes Hometown Kempsville Road Golden Corral As "Best In The Nation

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (Sunday, December 09, 2001) - After the Kempsville Road Golden Corral received the coveted national Cleanliness-Service-Quality (CSQ) Award, the hometown Virginia Beach, Va., Beacon called it the "best-run restaurant in the nation".

That was the judgment of Beacon reporter Sandra Jill Pennecke after a briefing on the CSQ process by Kempsville Road General Manager Kathie Orr, supplemented by comments from co-workers and regular guests at the restaurant.

As one guest told the Beacon, "It's the best place to have breakfast in town. It's always clean and the people are always nice."

Ms. Orr gives the objective CSQ scoring process much of the credit for helping the restaurant raise its performance to #1 status.

"They (the unplanned white glove inspections) make sure that we're doing it the Golden Corral way," she said. "If you're not living and breathing it every minute, you=re not going to get a good score."

Reporter Pennecke thinks General Manager Orr is a bit modest about her own contribution to achieving the ranking.

"Kathie's a real good manager and the people who work for her like her," she said. "She's got a wonderful attitude and the people feed off that."

Ms. Pennecke's interview with the Kempsville Road team wasn't her first visit to the restaurant.

"I've taken my family to Kempsville Road and other Golden Corrals because they're comfortable and clean," she comments. "My children (ages 6 and 10) like the food, which is the first requirement for us, but they especially love the desserts. They can't wait to finish their meals so they can get some ice cream or other goodies."

Ms. Orr and her team know that it's difficult to repeat as CSQ champ, but they're determined to give it their best shot. "The dog with the bone is in the greatest danger, but that dog isn't going to give it up without a real fight," she observed.

She knows a lot about dogs, too. She and her husband, Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronald W. Orr, have two dogs, Dallas and Cowboy. "They're my children," she said proudly. Ms. Orr, 28, had just graduated from high school and gotten married when she was hired as a server at Kempsville Road just prior to its opening in 1993. It was her first experience in the restaurant industry, but she made rapid progress with promotions to crew leader, associate manager and assistant manager at other Golden Corrals in the BOTH, Inc. companies of franchisee Hu Odom before returning to Kempsville Road as general manager.

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