Dive Brief:
- Focus Brands added three executives to its leadership team. Christopher McNutt will serve as SVP of supply chain; Urvi Patel as SVP of customer engagement and experience; and Manuel Valdes as SVP of digital, data and marketing technology, according to a press release issued Monday. Focus said all three were in place at the company and running their divisions.
- The three new SVPs will have responsibility for their sectors across the company’s seven brands: Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, McAlisters’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Schlotzsky’s.
- Focus Brands’ move to unify some aspects of executive oversight is in keeping with the company’s strategy of opening multi-branded locations in markets where the different concepts can complement each other’s strengths.
Dive Insight:
Focus’ sprawling network of restaurants includes 6,600 units across 50 states and 60 countries, according to the press release, making its supply chain remarkably complex. McNutt will assume responsibility for that system and for “strategic planning and directing all aspects of policies, objectives and initiatives for each supply chain function to ensure adaptable and scalable solutions,” according to the press release. In an email to Restaurant Dive, Focus Brands said McNutt succeeds Anissa Mandell-Chance as supply chain SVP. Mandell held the post from 2020 to June of this year, according to her LinkedIn.
McNutt will use the “synergies across all brands” and purchasing power of Focus’ system to accomplish those ends. He will report to Focus’ Chief Financial Officer Mike Dixon.
According to the press release, McNutt brings considerable restaurant experience to Focus.
“For the past 17 years, Chris has held senior leadership positions at Centralized Supply Chain Services LLC, the purchasing cooperative for Applebee's and IHOP,” the release states. McNutt also serves as treasurer for the National Restaurant Association Supply Chain Expert Exchange Board.
On the customer engagement front, Patel was promoted from the role she held since joining the company in 2019 as vice president of insights, analytics and revenue management. According to her LinkedIn, Patel has held her SVP role, which is newly created at Focus, since June. She reports to Focus Brands CEO Jim Holthouser.
Patel is overseeing “customer engagement and loyalty, branded currency, revenue management, insights and digital experience” in the SVP role. She has worked a variety of jobs, according to the press release, including spending a decade at InterContinental Hotels Group, where she worked in roles covering “owner and franchise services, corporate strategy and new brand strategy.”
Valdes, meanwhile, “will build and lead the technology strategy for Focus Brands' digital and data platforms, AI and machine learning-based analytics as well as marketing and advertising technologies,” the release stated. Valdes’ LinkedIn lists his start date as August of this year. The company said his role was newly created as well and that he reports to the company’s chief technology officer, Nandu Gandhi. He previously served as chief technology officer of Central Group in Thailand.
Earlier this year, Focus added three new executives, two to support construction and development across the company and a third to lead Auntie Anne’s marketing and operations. The company also hired a chief brand officer at Jamba in May, and appointed a restaurant category president and chief brand officer at Schlotzsky’s last year.
In addition to the co-branding initiatives, which include about 175 existing units and 65 in varied stages of development, Focus Brands has looked to high-tech, non-traditional units to bolster its growth in recent years.
