Smalls Sliders continues to fill out its executive team as the five-year-old chain gears up for ambitious growth, today naming Dan Hurwitz as its chief financial officer. Hurwitz most recently served as CFO of Philz Coffee, where he spent the past nearly three years. His prior experience includes financial planning and analysis roles at Gamestop, Kids2, Restoration Hardware, MGM Resorts International, and Abercrombie & Fitch.
In his new role, he is charged with guiding Smalls’ investment decisions, supporting franchise growth, and ensuring the company maintains a strong financial foundation while scaling. During a recent conversation, Hurwitz said the opportunity to move to Smalls fits his career path.
“I’ve always gone to places with a big opportunity to accelerate growth and boost profitability, and that need true strategic planning to get there,” he said. “I am looking forward to jumping in and helping [Smalls] with that process.”
Smalls currently has 325 units open or under development. But what interested Hurwitz about the company isn’t just its potential for a bigger footprint.
“I love the simplicity. As a consumer, I hate going to places that do a lot of things mediocre. I prefer specialty places. If I want a bagel, I go to a bagel shop. I don’t go to steakhouses and order fish,” he said, pointing to Smalls’ menu that features just cheeseburger sliders, fries, and milkshakes. “From a financial standpoint, simple models have a great flow through. That, combined with the modular building design that makes it faster and cheaper to open stores with great (returns on investment), that’s exciting.”
Hurwitz said his initial priorities will be executing the company’s current strategy led by chief executive officer Maria Rivera, and supporting the rest of the Smalls team, which includes fellow recent c-suite hires Don Crocker (chief development officer) and Julie Hauser-Blanner (chief operations officer), as well as its private equity firm 10 Point Capital, and its growing roster of franchisees.
“The company is small today but today isn’t what we’re doing here. The decisions we make today are about three to five years from now,” he said.
From a financial perspective, how Smalls achieves its three- to five-year goal is by optimizing the operational and labor model, he said, adding that it is also understanding what technology and equipment will contribute to efficiency, supporting the marketing team to ensure it has the right insights to resonate with customers, making sure franchisees are making money, and getting better as the company grows.
“Smalls is an awesome brand, but it’s not a mature company yet. That’s part of the excitement,” he said. “The opportunity is big, but we have work to do organizationally to get us from the company we are today and where we want to be. We’re at an inflection point for growth, and that’s the fun part.”
Hurwitz and his family recently moved to Atlanta, where Smalls is headquartered. He earned his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, and his bachelor’s degree from Brown University.
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
