Dive Brief:

• Shake Shack appointed Papa Johns CEO and president Rob Lynch as its CEO and board member effective May 20th, the company announced Thursday. Lynch is succeeding Randy Garutti, who announced his impending retirement late last year. 
• Garutti, who has been with Shake Shack since the brand’s started as a hot dog cart over 20 years ago, will remain with Shake Shake as an advisor through the end of the year to help with the transition. 
• Lynch has served as Papa Johns CEO since 2019, during which time he led the chain to reach over $5 billion in global sales and about 5,900 units. He brings over a decade of QSR experience to the role, and also served two years as Arby’s president. Lynch joins the burger brand following a year that saw 4.4% same store sales growth, and saw company-operated stores cross $1 billion in sales, according to the brand’s lastest earnings release.

Dive Insight:

Shake Shack ended its final year under Garutti’s leadership with a strong growth trajectory; in 2023 it opened 41 domestic company-owned stores and 44 licensed locations, bringing its total store count to more than 520 locations globally.  

Over the past few years, Shake Shack opened roughly 30 company-owned drive-thrus and has deployed kiosks to improve the customer experience. 

Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer hired Garutti in 2000 as a general manager for Union Square Hospitality’s Union Square Cafe. Garutti helped Meyer grow his new Shake Shack concept in 2007 when the burger chain opened its second location. The company went public in 2015 and has grown considerably. 

Lynch will have big shoes to fill, but the restaurant veteran has significant credentials he brings into his new role. At Papa Johns, he helped the company come back from a same-store sales slump under founder John Schnatter. 

The pizza chain increased same-store sales in the recent, difficult operating environment as well, ending last year up 1% in North America, according to an earnings release. Under Lynch’s leadership, Papa John’s also partnered with third-party delivery providers that helped the company grow its delivery channel when other pizza operators were experiencing declining delivery sales. 

Before Papa Johns, Lynch served as president of Arby’s where he led operations, marketing, culinary, development and digital transformation, per the release. Arby’s, under his leadership, achieved “strong global system-wide sales and corporate profitability,” Shake Shack said. Earlier, Lynch worked as vice president of marketing at Taco Bell. He also has held positions at Kraft Heinz and Procter and Gamble. 

“Rob’s appointment as CEO marks the beginning of our next chapter of growth as we seek to further elevate Shake Shack as a leading global brand,” Meyer said. “Rob’s deep leadership experience with several well-established global brands will serve us well in executing on our long-term strategic priorities as we enter the next phase of our Company’s growth.”

Jeff Lawrence, a member of the CEO search committee and independent board director, said Lynch’s experience proved that he could lead and scale a company. 

“His deep and demonstrated experience in marketing, data analytics, technology and four-wall economics gives us great confidence that he is the right leader to take Shake Shack to even greater heights,” Lawrence said. “Above all, the committee found Rob’s leadership style and focus on fostering great workplace culture to be an ideal fit.”