Kat Cole: from server to C-suite: former Hooters hostess leads billion-dollar bun biz.

• Author: Calve, Joe

Kat Cole, president of Cinnabon, has had, by any measure, a remarkable career. She started as a 17-year-old waitress at Hooters in Jacksonville, Fla., and throughout a 15-year career, she worked her way up to company vice president. Now, just 35, she is president of Cinnabon, home of the 880-calorie cinnamon roll Cole describes as an "over-the-top sensory experience." A multichannel marketing expert with a strong taste for social media, Cole is a rising star in the hospitality industry who has her company on track to top $1 billion in product sales this year.

Strategies Co-Executive Editor Joe Calve, CMO of Morrison & Foerster, recently caught up with the effervescent Ms. Cole, who will deliver the keynote address at the 2014 LMA Annual Conference in April. The following is an edited version of their talk.

KAT COLE ON SERVICE

"There are few more honorable things to do than to serve--whether you're serving cinnamon rolls or legal services. People have a need or desire, and you're positioned to enable them to meet it.

"Excellent service drives a high level of personal satisfaction and morale in a business that, in my mind, is invaluable. But some companies don't take advantage of it. Other companies tell stories around it and make it a driver of their success.

"That's service as a verb--as an experience. As a noun, when you are the one being served, it's one of the elements of business with the most potential to drive higher levels of differentiation of a product, service or individual.

"Beyond that, it is the thing that is most within our control. Whether for products or services, there is an insanely high return on effort, and the effort you put into it is in your control. The potential for genuine differentiation is tremendous. Service levels often are only mediocre even in 'best-in-class' organizations. So service can drive great loyalty."

ON WHAT IT TAKES

"The key attribute critical to success is a high level of awareness--self-awareness and awareness of your environment. I worked with a senior guy--senior in every respect from me: age, experience, title--and he made it abundantly clear that he felt I did not deserve my job. I had not been in the industry long enough. To him, I was just a high-energy cheerleader. There was a large divide between us--totally different styles. It was as if he was speaking French, and I was speaking Mandarin.

"I had a good friend in the organization--another important lesson: Do good things for good people...