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Beef 'O' Brady's parent names new corporate chefBeef 'O' Brady's parent names new corporate chef

Stan Dorsey to spearhead menu development at Beef 'O' Brady's and The Brass Tap

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

May 9, 2016

1 Min Read
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Stan Dorsey FSC Franchise Co

Stan Dorsey, corporate chef, FSC Franchise Co. LLC. Photo: FSC Franchise Co.

FSC Franchise Co. LLC, parent to Beef ‘O’ Brady’s and The Brass Tap, has named Stan Dorsey director of research and product development.

Dorsey made the announcement on his Facebook page last week, and FSC confirmed it Friday. He replaces David Groll, who joined FSC at the beginning of 2015.

Since then, the casual-dining operator has experimented with a fast-casual version of Beef ‘O’ Brady’s called Beef Express, and has also tested streamlined menus at its full-service restaurants.

[CHARTBEAT:3]

The Tampa, Fla.-based company and its franchisees have also remodeled many of Beef ‘O’ Brady’s 196 locations with improved lighting, floors, seating and televisions. The beer selection has also been upgraded to include a wide variety of craft beer, which is also a priority of 35-unit sister brand The Brass Tap.

Groll had been charged with exploring new chicken wing and tender options, as well as sandwiches, salads and burgers. FSC did not say immediately what Dorsey’s priorities would be.

A veteran of research-and-development kitchens, Dorsey most recently spent six months as manager of product development at Hardee’s, a subsidiary of CKE Restaurants Holdings Inc. Before that, Dorsey served for two years as executive chef and vice president of culinary strategy at The Krystal Co.

Dorsey also has worked at Focus Brands, Church’s Chicken and Popeyes.

Correction: May 10, 2015 Based on information from FSC Franchise Co. LLC, an earlier version of this article misstated Stan Dorsey’s job title, which is director of research and product development. It also misstated the number of Brass Tap locations, which is 35. 

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

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About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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