From One Grilling to Another
Benes thought he would be spending two weeks in the WNBC-TV newsroom. But he was hooked again. Benes stayed on as executive producer of investigative reporting. In 2004, he was recruited to WCBS, as executive producer of investigative and political reporting, by his ex-boss from NBC.
But when the general manager at wcbs said no story could be longer than a minute, a minute and 15 seconds tops, Benes balked: "What the GM was saying is we don't want complex stories."
Benes was in a position to walk away. He and his wife, Marianne, had saved enough to have a comfortable retirement nest egg. And Benes had outside investments to keep him busy, including his stake in Wood Ranch, which had grown to 10 restaurants since his initial investment.
Wood Ranch was now grossing over $50 million annually and poised to pursue a more aggressive growth plan-the 11th store is opening this month. Benes's skills as a communicator could make a difference.
Simple pleasures. The move to the outskirts of Los Angeles from New Jersey meant shifting from a house with a nice backyard and tournament pool table to a two-bedroom apartment, but little else has changed in the couple's lifestyle. The peripatetic Benes remains a bit of a sybarite, enjoying a Padrón cigar and smooth 23-year-old Zacapa dark rum while shooting pool at the nearby Four Seasons resort in Westlake Village.
While his working hours are somewhat more relaxed now, Benes plays multiple communications roles-internally, with the company's 1,000-plus employees, and externally, with the 40,000-odd customers the restaurants serve each week. A favorite facet of his new work world is frequent restaurant visits to chat with diners and staff and get a feel for what's working and what needs attention.
"I don't miss the news business because I don't think it exists in the way I understood and valued it," he says. "I loved the fact that as a journalist you could go places, meet people, talk to people, get an understanding of our world."
Sounds a lot like the restaurant business, Benes says, only "you don't have to go through security and take your shoes off all the time."
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