By Alexandra Laurence | Broadcast Reporter
It is quite a success story, but with a Baylor twist. A Former Bears’ football player is now the CEO of one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the country. And one location is right across I-35 from campus.
Chris Dull came to Baylor in the fall of 1991 on an Athletic football scholarship to play for Grant Teaff as a linebacker. He graduated with a degree in education 4 years later in 1995 and took an entry level position as a store manager at marble slab. Six months ago Dull succeeded the co-founder and the son of the name sake Freddy Simon as CEO. Dull credits Baylor for his success today but in more than one way.
“That is really where my relationship with the Lord started,” Dull said, explaining that before he got to Waco he did not have much of a religious background. In addition he added that “ While in Waco I found that (Christianity) and it has been a huge part of my life. You do nothing without the help of the Lord”
Other people at Baylor were an extension of that. His teammates, the faculty, and the coaching staff. In fact he named his son after one of Baylor’s assistant Coaches Cotton Davidson.
“My coaches as a whole taught me how to be a man. They taught me how to be tough, they taught me how to grind, they taught me to be humble and they had very high expectations of me and my teammates and they were all good men and stood for something much bigger than football” Dull said.
Dull now applies what he learned from Baylor to his CEO position in the restaurant industry. “With an education degree and in a role as a CEO you are an educator. You are teaching people and leading people and developing people all day everyday” He goes on to say that with his degree he learned very valuable things that apply to his everyday life.
He now takes what he learned at Baylor to help his restaurant chain group and prosper. In fact, Freddys now has over 400 locations in the country and opens up a new store every week.
Dull notes that branding is the biggest thing in the corporate world. “The brand is bigger than the people, the employees and the product.The brand is the lifeblood of any company” he mentioned. As the newly hired CEO, Chris Dull is dedicating his position to making the Freddy’s brand excellent.
“The Freddys brand stands on three pillars of excellence. Excellence in cleanliness, quality and hospitality” and Dull declared that in order to build a successful brand it is about “building on promises and being absolutely consistent”. Dull is determined to grow the chain even more and be focused on delivering the expectations.
Chris Dull now lives in Fort Worth, Texas with his wife Christie and has 2 children Megan (26) and Cotton (11). In his free time he enjoys fishing at the coast and spending time with his family.
