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Dive Brief:

• Togo’s Sandwiches has appointed Matt Dowling, its current CFO to the CEO position, succeeding Glenn Lunde, the company said in an email. Lunde left the company to become CEO at Yoshinoya America, per his LinkedIn profile. 
• Dowling has been with Togo’s since 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile, and has over 40 years of experience with operations, company finances and financial data analysis. Dowling will remain CFO. 
• During his five-year tenure as CEO, Lunde positioned the brand for growth, and the chain currently has over 170 locations open or in the works across Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, per the announcement.

Dive Insight:

In his dual role, Dowling will oversee operations, create strategic goals, grow unit count and drive financial performance, in addition to his CFO responsibilities. His past restaurant experience includes periods as CFO and president at Boudin and CFO at Round Table Pizza, according to LinkedIn. He also held leadership positions at Marin Bikes, a bicycle wholesaler, in addition to his experience at manufacturing and financial companies.

Togo’s will open new locations in Burbank, California and Vancouver, Washington, during the fourth quarter, Dowling said in a statement. Since 2019, the chain has been rolling out its 3.0 remodel, which consists of new color pallets, self ordering kiosks and a streamlined sandwich prep system, and expanding via franchising into new markets. It has been enhancing its menu with new items and working to further engage loyal guests, he said. 

“In my nearly three years at TOGO’S, we’ve transformed the HR, finance and accounting operations so the collection and communication of information is accurate, efficient and more streamlined for our franchisees and overall team,” Dowling said. “I aim to continue this momentum.”

The shift in leadership at Togo’s is part of a broad range of ongoing restaurant CEO moves that began during late summer and continued into September when Whataburger, Walk-On’s and BJ’s Restaurants hired new leadership.