MERCHANDISING: Rescuing the Automat

"Horn & Hardart is a bit of Americana, isn't it? I suppose anyone who ever visited New York City wanted to go to Horn & Hardart to put nickels, dimes and more lately quarters in the Automat windows."

—Horn & Hardart President Frederick H. Guterman Nostalgia, however, is hardly the recipe for a successful business—as no one knows better than Guterman. A year ago, he was hired to rescue the chain of 32 New York-area restaurants from a deep slump that caused it to lose $15 million in 1971 and 1972. Guterman, 52, has no background in the food business;...

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