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Shari’s names Tony Fialho executive chefShari’s names Tony Fialho executive chef

Former Taco Bueno chef is chain’s first new culinary innovation director in 25 years

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

February 6, 2018

1 Min Read
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Shari’s Management Corp. and Shari’s Restaurant Group have named Tony Fialho executive chef and director of culinary innovation.

Fialho, who most recently was director of culinary innovation at Taco Bueno, replaces Kevin Bechtel, who left Shari’s in September 2017 after 25 years with the company.

Fialho has also worked on the culinary teams of Chili’s parent Brinker International Inc. and Black Bear Diners. He received an associate’s degree from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., in 1998.

“Tony is a very talented chef and menu strategist, and he brings a wealth of experience from family-dining, casual-dining and quick-service restaurants,” Joe Adney, Shari’s vice president for marketing, said in a press release. “Tony is the right guy to lead our product development efforts as Shari’s works to elevate the quality and freshness of our menu.”

Shari’s Management Corp. manages Shari’s Cafés & Pies, a 94-unit family-dining chain based in Beaverton, Ore., with locations in California, Idaho, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

“It’s an exciting time to join Shari’s as they look to create a unique, ‘craveable’ dining experience for guests,” Fialho said. “Our goal is to leverage Shari’s Northwest roots and bring fresh, new thinking to the menu.”

Shari’s is known for its comfort food and pies, including seasonal items such as blackberry pie, which won a Nation’s Restaurant News MenuMasters Award for Best Menu Line Extension in 2011.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]

Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.

Hi is responsible for spotting and reporting on F&B trends across the country for both publications. 

He is the co-host of a podcast, Menu Talk with Pat and Bret, 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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