NASHVILLE Tenn. Shoney's Inc. has named Wendy's veteran Hannibal Myers as its chief development officer in a management makeover intended to jump-start expansion.
Other additions to the family chain's home-office staff include Jim Blackstock, formerly senior vice president and chief legal officer of Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, who joins Shoney's as executive vice president and general counsel; Stuart Hall, a financial executive from the chemistry industry, who comes aboard as chief financial officer; Preston Spears, an alumnus of Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers, now Shoney's vice president of treasury management; Patrick Smith, formerly a manager of MV Culinary LLC in Nashville, back with the chain as vice president of research and development; and Debbie Campa, a human resources manager of Best American Hospitality in Atlanta, now Shoney's vice president of human resources.
The new hires join Joe Phraner, chief operating officer, and Dan Dahlen, chief marketing officer. Both of those executives worked in their current positions under Shoney's previous owner, the Lone Star Funds private-equity firm in Dallas.
"It's the dream team," said David Davoudpour, the Church's Chicken franchisee who purchased the 283-unit chain in January. "We want to expand. In order to do that, you have to have qualified people." Davoudpour serves as chairman and chief executive of Shoney's Inc., which remains based in Nashville. He remains one of Church's largest licensees.
Shoney's Inc. has purchased five restaurants from a franchisee in northern Georgia, bringing the total of company-owned restaurants to 57.
Myers had been a key figure in Wendy's push into non-traditional sites in the mid-1990s. Earlier, he had served in a development capacity for Taco Bell. More recently, he founded H3 Consulting LLC in Atlanta to design franchising programs, and co-founded Providence Realty Group LLC, a real-estate development and construction management company.