When people do leave, we stay in touch with them, and they tell us they miss being surrounded by talented, high-energy colleagues. But we're very proud of our alumni, who tend to do pretty well elsewhere.

All they told us, ... is there's 2,000 people decorating the dance floor.

When the Atkins craze was in full bloom [about a year ago], people were asking us not to bring bread to the table noticeably more. Bread sales were down, and we were selling less pasta and a lot more steak.

Many of our employees have been here 25 or 30 years. Loyalty isn't dead. It's just changed a bit. The old lifetime-employment guarantee may be gone, but that's okay, because it was almost like a parent-child relationship. We'd rather see it as a business deal between two adults -- and we do promise that we will invest in your career.

We're looking for nine characteristics, which we call success drivers.

This is my favorite part of the day, talking to people (before the start). It loosens us up a bit.