NASHVILLE Tenn. O'Charley's Inc. said that J. Harold "Jay" Allen has joined the casual-dining company as vice president of design and construction.
Allen oversees the design and construction of company-operated and franchised restaurants within the concern's three restaurant brands, which include O’Charley’s, Ninety Nine Restaurants and Stoney River Legendary Steaks, the company said. Allen’s duties include construction and design responsibilities for Project RevO'Lution, a re-imaging of O'Charley's namesake concept, and Dressed to the Nines, a comparable program for the Ninety Nine Restaurant chain.
Prior to joining O'Charley's, Allen was senior vice president of Forrester Construction in Rockville, Md. Allen also held positions at travel concessionaire HMSHost in Bethesda, Md., as well as at Marriott International and Sodexho Marriott Services, now known as Sodexho USA.
O’Charley’s said it is in the process of an “ongoing transformation strategy,” which aims to boost financial performance and guest satisfaction levels by updating its namesake chain and Ninety Nine.
Last month, O'Charley's reduced its full-year earnings guidance to between 66 cents and 73 cents for the fiscal year ending Dec. 30, down from previous expectations of between $1 and $1.10 per share. In fiscal 2006, O’Charley’s earned 86 cents per share.
At the time, chairman and chief executive Gregory L. Burns said that while the company continued to raise the average check of its concepts, a difficult consumer environment and competitive discounting had contributed to a reduction in guest counts at all three brands.
O'Charley's Inc., based here, operates or franchises 240 namesake restaurants, 114 Ninety Nine Restaurants and 10 Stoney River steakhouses.
