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In 1972 Donald Kendall, then chairman of PepsiCo Inc., sensed it was time to give a promising executive at the company's Frito-Lay division a challenging, stand-alone assignment.
He would send D. Wayne Calloway, then vice president of Frito-Lay, to Toronto, where he would oversee the company's soft-drink and snack foods operations in Canada.
"We decided to put him up there and see how he did," Kendall recalls. "When Wayne was at Frito-Lay, it was about that time I had an idea that he might be the one to eventually run this company."
An Elkin, N.C., native, Calloway had been lured aboard the snack foods and soft-drink giant from ITT Corp., and he performed impressively enough to be granted a solo mission by Kendall and PepsiCo's senior management cadre.
"It was a bit different from what I was used to, especially the weather," Calloway jokes about of his Canadian tenure. "But here we traditionally move people around to see how they do in various locations and positions. I was no different. Looking back, I guess everything worked out."
Kendall's estimation of Calloway's leadership potential came to fruition in 1986.
Since becoming PepsiCo chairman and chief executive eight years ago, Calloway has been widely credited with enhancing the entrepreneurial culture fostered by Kendall.
He has been the point man in expanding PepsiCc into the largest restaurant company in the world in addition to a global superpower in beverages and snack foods.
Sales at the diversified food and soft-drink conglomerate were projected to approach $28 billion in 1994. Of that figure, more than $10 billion was accrued via its restaurant portfolio.
In 1995 those figures are expected to reach $31 billion and about $12 billion, respectively. Dominated by the triumvirate of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC, PepsiCo's 24,000 restaurants currently are sited in more than 90 countries.
With a homespun demeanor and avuncular disposition, Calloway resembles a Carolina deacon more than an executive who has set a companywide annual sales target of $100 billion within the next 10 years.
"Our goal is to double the business every five years," he states. "We certainly think that's reachable. We've done that [doubled the business] for the last 27 years, so we have a pretty fair track record. That's also...