ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FoodFirst Global Restaurants announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed Steve Layt as Chief Executive Officer, effectively immediately. He will assume day-to-day leadership of the Company and will also join FoodFirst’s Board of Directors.
Steve is an accomplished restaurant executive with more than 30 years of global experience. Most recently, Steve was President and CEO of Pizza Hut for NPC International, the nation’s largest Pizza Hut Franchisee. Prior to that, Steve was the President of Applebee’s, the world’s largest Casual Dining Restaurant Chain with more than $4.5 Billion in annual revenues. Steve is a world-class operator and has extensive experience driving sales growth, reshaping organizations, building and inspiring teams.
“We’re excited to have an operator and executive of Steve’s caliber join our team and we look forward to all we will achieve under his leadership,” said Antonio Bonchristiano, CEO of GP Investments, FoodFirst’s main investor. “The Board and I are confident Steve is the right leader to build on current momentum and continue to drive our operations towards industry-leading excellence.”
FoodFirst’s founder, Brad Blum, has stepped down from his role as Chairman & CEO and will remain engaged as an owner-partner. “I would like to personally thank Brad for his outstanding leadership and contribution in setting up the foundation for FoodFirst’s success,” said Mr. Bonchristiano.
Steve’s first priorities will be to deliver outstanding operational excellence and to consistently delight FoodFirst guests. Given his operational expertise, Steve will directly oversee FoodFirst’s operations team.
Steve Layt
Steve is an accomplished restaurant executive with more than 30 years of global experience. Most recently, Steve was President and CEO of Pizza Hut for NPC International, the nation’s largest Pizza Hut Franchisee where he led the operations of more than 1,230 Pizza Hut Restaurants across the country.
Prior to that, Steve was the President of Applebee’s, the world’s largest Casual Dining Restaurant Chain with more than $4.5 Billion in annual revenues. In this role, Steve not only drove consistent comp sales growth, but also led a customer defection and repositioning study of the Applebee’s brand which delivered improved guest experience measures across the Applebee’s system.
Having started his career as a restaurant level employee, Steve has held numerous other operations and executive leadership positions within the restaurant industry, including senior roles within YUM! Brands.
As an internationally certified Executive Performance Coach, Steve has a real passion for developing high performance teams and driving world-class results.
About FoodFirst
Formed in 2018, FoodFirst Global Restaurants, Inc. Is a restaurant company whose mission is to provide Good Food for the Planet™. The company is building a platform to own a variety of brands and businesses in the restaurant and food industry. Its first two brands are BRIO Tuscan Grille, which is being repositioned in the polished, upscale segment of casual dining as BRIO Italian Mediterranean and BRAVO Cucina Italiana, which will be renamed BRAVO Italian Mediterranean as a core casual dining brand. We are passionate about good food, know good food, enjoy good food, and are dedicated to always improving upon and consistently providing good food. For more information, visit www.foodfirst.com.
Media Contact:
Steve Coe
Steve.Coe@Foodfirst.com
(407) 421-9685