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LEADERSHIP PROFILE
FROM ZERO TO FIVE MILLION IN SIX YEARS
The remarkable return of Jesse Sartain
SARTAIN AT 2002 CORDON ROUGE CONFERENCE AT THE FOUR SEASONS AVIARA IN CARLSBAD,CA.
SARTAIN INTRODUCING ELLEN FLORA OF DOMAINE CHANDON AND THEIR WINES
JESSE SARTAIN WITH WIFE ROSIMAI SARTAIN AND CORDON ROUGE EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT NANCY SMITH.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesse Sartain awoke in intensive care in the neurological wing of Kaiser Hospital in Redwood City, California.

“I felt like the world’s strongest man — revived, almost angelic, clear-headed,” said Sartain. Quite a rebound considering he had just survived a ten hour surgery to remove a massive tumor from his brain which was, fortunately, non-cancerous.

The downside was that he was penniless, facing mounting bills and on the verge of losing his business of ten years — the American Tasting Institute. “Most of my staff had bailed, thinking I was about to die. Of course, I don’t blame them, but thankfully two assistants stayed on.

“So, remarkably, I was sent home in three days and miraculously I traveled with my wife, Rosimai, to Chicago six days later to host a thousand people at one of our tastings during the National Restaurant Show. I was a bit grey and fragile,” Sartain said.

The slow process of rebuilding Sartain’s health, life and business began. “I was determined to make a total comeback. I contacted my clients, slowly rehired a staff, paid my bills and by the grace of the Lord, made it,” said Sartain.

Little did Sartain know that within six years his culinary program would grow into a network of 35,000 chefs, be hosting events all across America and be rewarding Gold Medal product awards to over three hundred companies.
“Our big break came when I hired a young sales executive named Marc Oldham. He just knew how to translate my program with a whole lot of chutzpah to the retail grocery world. We zoomed,” said Sartain.

In 2001, six years after his near-death experience, Sartain was approached by a business broker saying he had two potential buyers for the Institute and its program. Sartain agreed to meet with them and one emerged, John Parker, an entrepreneurial investor. “He tracked us for six months, negotiating along the way, and we finally settled on my original price tag of 5 million dollars,” Sartain said.

Sartain returns with “an international organization centered around wine education and a domestic network of executives to focus on.”

Sartain has a lot to be thankful for. The business was transferred over on September 7, 2001 — four days before the World Trade Center disaster. “Boy, was the timing right. Once again providence was on my side,” he said.

After taking a brief vacation, Sartain was restless. He had plans sixteen years earlier to form an international organization centered around wine education and a domestic network of foodservice executives to focus on everything that is foodservice including wine, spirits, equipment, tabletop and technology. Thus Cordon Rouge World Society and the American Executive Leadership Conference emerged.

Sartain started in the U.S. in late 2001, targeting quality purveyors and matching them with multi-unit and high-volume companies nationwide.

 
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