Skip navigation
Lawrys-restaurants-CEO-Ryan-OMelveny-Wilson.jpg Ryan Tanaka
Lawry's Restaurants CEO Ryan O'Melveny Wilson

Ryan O’Melveny Wilson promoted to CEO of Lawry’s Restaurants Inc., parent of Lawry’s The Prime Rib, SideDoor, the Tam O’Shanter, Five Crowns and Lawry’s Carvery

The former CMO, a trained chef and butcher, is a fourth-generation member of the founding family

Ryan O’Melveny Wilson has been named CEO of Lawry’s Restaurants Inc., succeeding his uncle, Richard Roger Frank, who will transition to the position of executive chairman of the board, the company said Wednesday.

Wilson is also the great-grandson of Lawry’s founder, Lawrence Frank, and represents the fourth generation of that family running the company, which includes Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas and Beverly Hills, Calif.; SideDoor in Chicago; the Tam O’Shanter in Los Angeles; Five Crowns in Corona del Mar, Calif.; Lawry’s Carvery in Costa Mesa, Calif., and Lawry’s International & Licensing, which comprises seven Lawry’s The Prime Rib locations in East Asia.

Wilson was named the company’s chief marketing and strategy officer in 2018, and before that was its vice president and executive chef.

Before joining the family business 12 years ago, Wilson worked in restaurant kitchens including Quince in San Francisco, La Toque in Napa, Calif., and Gramercy Tavern in New York City before training in Italy under butcher Dario Cecchini at Antica Macelleria Cecchini in the Tuscan town of Panzano. He then joined Lawry’s Restaurants to work in the group’s kitchens and to do research & development for SideDoor.

Lawry's Restaurants Inc., is headquartered in Pasadena, Calif.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

Correction: August 12, 2020
This story has been updated to include additional locations of Lawry's The Prime Rib.
TAGS: Operations
Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish