New Melting Pot leader dishes on growth goals, culture lessons

Restaurant executive John Crawford, who has traveled the world opening franchise locations for brands such as Ruth’s Chris Steak House, traces his first industry lesson to a self-assured teenager and some bananas and ice cream in Central Florida. 

This goes back to the late 1970s. Crawford, the teen, was at his first job, working for a diner-style restaurant in his native St. Cloud, outside Orlando. Crawford started as a busboy. But he soon seized opportunities to pick up shifts in the kitchen, waiting tables and more. “I made the most amazing banana splits,” he says, marveling at the off-menu concoctions he put together. “They really were a work of art.”