SEATTLE Taco Del Mar Franchising Corp. has hired Rick Braa as its chief financial officer, succeeding vice president of finance Bill Stewart, who has left the company.
Taco Del Mar officials said this week that Braa previously was a principal and director of Clothier & Head, the restaurant company’s former outside audit firm. They noted in a written statement that he has prior food and restaurant company experience from his work with dairy-based goods producer West Farm Foods and Seattle-based casual-dining specialist Restaurants Unlimited.
Braa’s appointment is the latest in a number of executive suite changes during the past two years for the franchisor of the Taco Del Mar chain, which totals more than 240 restaurants.
Departed finance vice president Stewart joined Taco Del Mar in 2002, and the appointment of his successor marks one of the first executive hires by company president and chief executive Larry Destro, who was been on the job since May. Destro formerly was president of CB Manufacturing and Sales. Previously, he was president of Dunkin’ Brands’ international division for both Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts, as well as vice president of Northwest operations for Taco Bell Corp.
As chief executive, Destro filled a spot left vacant since September 2008 by the resignation of company co-founder, chairman and chief executive James Schmidt, who resigned reportedly to pursue another business opportunity but remained the private enterprise’s largest shareholder. Destro’s appointment by the Taco Del Mar board also filled the president’s post empty for a short time by the unexplained departure of Kevin Hansen, the former chief operating officer who had been promoted to president only seven months earlier.
Schmidt had assumed the presidency in late 2007 following the resignation of David Huether, who had spent three years in that role for the company founded in 1992.
Like many in the fast-casual Mexican segment, Taco Del Mar has struggled to find the right price-value formula that renders consumers satisfied with the higher-end food and higher price points at Taco Del Mar when compared with cheaper options at Taco Bell and others. Pre-recession talk of adding a hundred-plus franchised units in a year, has been mostly quieted as the net size of the Taco Del Mar actually has contracted by about 10 percent since 2007 in a business environment that left some franchisees crying foul about chain strategies and practices.
Despite its challenges, Taco Del Mar has succeeded in positioning itself as an alternative to many mainstream rivals, with its trans fat-free menu, menu choices such as spinach and whole-wheat tortillas, and use of freshly made salsas and guacamole. Parents magazine named it one of “America’s Top 10 Best Fast-Casual Family Restaurants,” and Health magazine dubbed it one of “Americas Top 10 Healthiest Fast Food Restaurants.”
Recent promotions or featured menu items included a $4.99 Mondo Burrito with braised chicken, beef or pork carnitas, and a pair of Baja Fish Tacos made with fried, wild-harvested Alaskan Pollock marketed by the chain as a “sustainable” protein.
Contact Al Liddle at [email protected].