Church’s Chicken, the Atlanta-based quick-service chicken chain, has named Jim Hyatt chief executive just two months after Hyatt resigned from the CEO position at Cosí Inc.
Hyatt succeeds Mel Deane, who served as Church’s chief executive since December 2009.
“As an operating partner at Friedman Fleischer & Lowe [the private equity firm that owns Church’s] it was always anticipated that Mel Deane ‘s role as CEO would be an interim one,” the company said. “Mr. Deane was actively involved in the entire CEO search.”
“I am very excited to be joining the Church’s team,” Hyatt said in a statement. “We have a great brand, a rich heritage and exciting prospects.”
Hyatt has more than 35 years of restaurant experience, including four years at Deerfield, Ill.-based Cosí, where he worked from 2007 until his resignation in August.
At the time of his resignation he alluded to his future plans when he said, “My decision to leave was driven by personal considerations, as I was recently approached with an opportunity that will enable me to remain with my family in Atlanta.”
Before serving as Cosí’s chief executive, Hyatt spent 16 years as an executive and franchise owner at Burger King Holdings.
Burger King recruited Hyatt after having been an award-winning BK franchisee in the Atlanta market for 11 years.
During his tenure as a Burger King franchisee, Hyatt represented more than 11,000 restaurants and more than 1,200 franchisees in 65 countries while serving on various committees in leadership roles with the brand’s National Franchisee Association.
He also served as director of operations at Hardee’s Restaurants from 1986 to 1990.
"We are pleased to bring the talent and track record of Jim Hyatt to Church’s Chicken," Tully Friedman, Church’s board chairman, said.
"Jim’s unique blend of executive, field, and franchisee experience and exceptional history of driving operational and performance enhancements in restaurant concepts will be a tremendous asset as we continue to grow the business and consistently deliver the best possible dining experience to our customers," he said.
Hyatt, who will work from Church’s Corporate Restaurant Support Center in Atlanta, was unavailable for comment at press time.
Church’s Chicken has more than 1,700 locations in 23 countries and system sales approaching $1.2 billion.
Contact Alan Snel at alan.snel@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @alansnelnrn
Church’s Chicken, the Atlanta-based quick-service chicken chain, has named Jim Hyatt chief executive just two months after Hyatt resigned from the CEO position at Cosí Inc.
Hyatt succeeds Mel Deane, who served as Church’s chief executive since December 2009.
“As an operating partner at Friedman Fleischer & Lowe [the private equity firm that owns Church’s] it was always anticipated that Mel Deane ‘s role as CEO would be an interim one,” the company said. “Mr. Deane was actively involved in the entire CEO search.”
“I am very excited to be joining the Church’s team,” Hyatt said in a statement. “We have a great brand, a rich heritage and exciting prospects.”
Hyatt has more than 35 years of restaurant experience, including four years at Deerfield, Ill.-based Cosí, where he worked from 2007 until his resignation in August.
At the time of his resignation he alluded to his future plans when he said, “My decision to leave was driven by personal considerations, as I was recently approached with an opportunity that will enable me to remain with my family in Atlanta.”
Before serving as Cosí’s chief executive, Hyatt spent 16 years as an executive and franchise owner at Burger King Holdings.
Burger King recruited Hyatt after having been an award-winning BK franchisee in the Atlanta market for 11 years.
During his tenure as a Burger King franchisee, Hyatt represented more than 11,000 restaurants and more than 1,200 franchisees in 65 countries while serving on various committees in leadership roles with the brand’s National Franchisee Association.
He also served as director of operations at Hardee’s Restaurants from 1986 to 1990.
"We are pleased to bring the talent and track record of Jim Hyatt to Church’s Chicken," Tully Friedman, Church’s board chairman, said.
"Jim’s unique blend of executive, field, and franchisee experience and exceptional history of driving operational and performance enhancements in restaurant concepts will be a tremendous asset as we continue to grow the business and consistently deliver the best possible dining experience to our customers," he said.
Hyatt, who will work from Church’s Corporate Restaurant Support Center in Atlanta, was unavailable for comment at press time.
Church’s Chicken has more than 1,700 locations in 23 countries and system sales approaching $1.2 billion.
Contact Alan Snel at alan.snel@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @alansnelnrn
The editors of Nation’s Restaurant News were challenged in finding the best way to cover the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, a day that changed the lives of nearly everyone in America, and to some extent changed the world.
We know many restaurants around the country are offering free meals or specials to firemen and policemen, and we know many chains are looking for ways to engage their customers around the memory of Sept. 11. Huddle House, for example, created a Facebook application to encourage remembrance of the date on the restaurant chain’s fan page. Huddle House, which is a 400-unit family-dining chain based in Atlanta, worked with the non-profit organization USACares and offered up to 1,000 free T-shirts for those who shared their stories of Sept. 11.
We also know the survivors from Windows on the World – the upscale restaurant that operated atop 1 World Trade Center – have spent most of the past 10 years developing an organization to help service workers. Windows on the World was born with the towers in the mid 1970′s, and at its most popular, the restaurant was one of America’s highest grossing locations. It lost 73 employees on Sept. 11, 2001.
Today, many of the survivors work with Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY), an organization dedicated to improve working conditions in the restaurant industry. In 2008, the group went national with Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United), a national organization that helps restaurant workers in other cities establish ROC’s of their own. Many of the Windows on the World workers also opened their own restaurant in New York City – COLORS a worker-owned restaurant and training facility.
We all have stories of Sept. 11, 2001, and Nation’s Restaurant News decided to pay tribute to that day with a brief remembrance here online.
I live in New York City, and did on that day, and every day during the 10 years that followed. I actually stopped at a restaurant, one I’ll never forget, as I walked uptown with other New Yorkers simply making their way on foot, away from the towers.
I moved downtown, to the heart of the Financial District, or Ground Zero as many of the tourists call it, in 2003. The neighborhood and its slightly uptown sister, Tribeca, where I now live, are hotbeds of restaurant activity, always have been. Like all small businesses, and to some extent New York City itself, restaurants in my neighborhood suffered for years after Sept. 11, 2001. I spoke to my local delis, who never recovered from the lost business of catering to the big investment banks, many of which left for havens in Jersey City, N.J., and to my upscale eateries, the owners of which missed the flush Wall Street traders.
But like New York, and like America, the restaurant industry didn’t stop recovering. I saw Dunkin’ Donuts come to the neighborhood just as the Deutsche Bank building was finally taken down to allow for more growth. And while many businesses, restaurants included, never recovered, I’ve seen Chipotle Mexican Grill, Five Guys Burgers & Fries, and the newest, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, each recently open in the Financial District. Local, independent eateries have developed outside patio dining in the summer to entice tourists, and some of the biggest restaurant developers in the city have returned with locations downtown. Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group, for example, opened a Shake Shack this summer in Battery Park City, directly across the street from what was the World Trade Center.
That’s when you know the neighborhood is back.
Ten years after Sept. 11, 2001, Nation’s Restaurant News remembers the day, those who lost their lives and those affected by the tragedy.
From around the web:
• Changing tastes: Dining in the decade since 9/11
• Four small-business owners who stayed put after 9/11
• Former Windows on the World employees become advocates for service workers
• From the NRA: America’s restaurants, industry of opportunity
Contact Sarah Lockyer at sarah.lockyer@penton.com.
The latest MillerPulse survey, which tracks restaurant sales and operator sentiment, showed for the first time in the survey’s nearly three-year history that more operators expect August same-store sales results to be worse than July.
The pessimism was palpable throughout the August MillerPulse survey, which collected data during the second week of August from more than 100 restaurateurs across the country at brands representing about 20 percent of total industry sales. Respondents cover all restaurant segments and all geographic areas in the United States. The August survey covers July results and outlooks for the remainder of the year.
Most key business aspects were labeled unfavorably by survey participants, including access to credit, guest traffic, pricing power and food costs — each of which deteriorated in the eyes of operators in July from earlier months. Economic worries also supplanted commodities as operators’ top concern. The majority of operators, or 51 percent, said the U.S. debt issues and subsequent stock market volatility directly hurt restaurant sales.
Looking into August, most operators expect declining same-store sales trends, with a net negative 8-percent result to the survey, which tracks the number of respondents who said sales would be “better” minus the number of respondents who said sales would be “worse.”
A comment from a surveyed operator – who will remain anonymous, as individual results and survey names are not released – summed up the mood:
“Consumer confidence is at recessionary levels. Dollar is getting weaker. Demand from consumers is going down, while input costs are increasing. Dangerous mix,” the operator commented.
MillerPulse is a monthly survey jointly produced by Nation’s Restaurant News and Larry Miller, a restaurant securities analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Atlanta. Miller has been producing this industry benchmark report for nearly three years. NRN now offers its readers the chance to participate and receive the exclusive data each month. More information and register.
EARLIER:
• May, June, July results
• April results
“For the first time in the history of this survey, more operators are expecting next month’s comps to be worse [32 percent of respondents] than better [24 percent of respondents],” Miller said. “And, operators’ six-month comp outlook also soured, with two of the four sectors [casual- and fine-dining] expecting worse sales than current trend.”
The month-to-month look at industry same-store sales shows July results rose 2.1 percent, sequentially down from 2.6 percent in June and 2.5 percent in May. Year-over-year, same-store sales increased from 0.5 percent in July 2010.
Both quick-service and casual-dining restaurants reported positive traffic results in July, up 0.8 percent at quick-service and 0.2 percent at casual diners. The rate of positive traffic fell June levels.
Additional takeaways:
• All six average check measures the survey tracks slipped in the latest survey, re-establishing the trend in average check management by guests that began four months ago. On the plus side, average check indicators remained positive and guest traffic rose, albeit 0.5 percent in July, down from the 1.3-percent June gain.
• Four of the five dayparts tracked declined in July, and three of the five dayparts are in negative territory. Morning business showed the only improvement.
• Rates of menu pricing remained steady in July, with operator respondents expected to run a rate of 1.5 percent pricing for the next six months, which is flat from expectations in last month’s survey. Operator commentary showed many are more cautious now on price increases because of sensitive consumer sentiment.
Contact Sarah Lockyer at sarah.lockyer@penton.com.
Follow her on Twitter: @slockyerNRN
Così Inc. chief executive James Hyatt has resigned, citing personal reasons, the company said Wednesday.
Così’s chairman of the board, Mark Demilio, will serve as interim chief executive while the fast-casual operator and franchisor of 138 restaurants searches for Hyatt’s replacement.
“I am proud of our accomplishments over the last four years and believe the efforts we have made to focus the company on driving traffic and sales … will continue to gain traction and set the table for growth,” Hyatt said.
“My decision to leave was driven by personal considerations, as I was recently approached with an opportunity that will enable me to remain with my family in Atlanta,” he said.
Così is based in Deerfield, Ill.
Così was among the publicly traded companies hit hardest by the recession and slow recovery. At one point, it faced delisting from the NASDAQ exchange because its share price had traded below $1 for too long.
For fiscal year 2010, Così recorded a net loss of $3.1 million, or 6 cents per share. Net losses in the first and second quarters of 2011 were $2.1 million and $634,000, respectively.
The brand had gained some same-store sales momentum heading into this year, but has struggled to maintain it. Same-store sales rose 2.4 percent for fiscal year 2010, but those results narrowed to a 1.7-percent increase in the first quarter of 2011 and a 0.2-percent decline in the second quarter.
Hyatt will remain with Così until Sept. 23 and aid the company’s transition.
Così operates 80 locations and franchises another 58 units in 17 states, the District of Columbia and the United Arab Emirates.
Contact Mark Brandau at mark.brandau@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @Mark_from_NRN
