Wok HoldCo LLC, parent to P.F.Chang’s China Bistro and Pei Wei Asian Diner, has named Michael Osanloo CEO of the bistro concept, the company said late Tuesday.
The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company, which also owns a majority interest in True Food Kitchen, said the CEO role is a newly created position. Rick Federico will remain full-time executive chairman of Wok HoldCo LLC.
“I’ve admired the iconic P.F. Chang’s brand for many years and see tremendous opportunities across the entire business,” Osanloo said in a statement.
Osanloo worked most recently with Kraft Foods, where he was executive vice president and president of Kraft Foods Group’s grocery business unit in North America. Before that, he led Kraft’s global strategy and mergers-and-acquisitions division.
“This is exceptionally exciting for the company,” Federico told Nation’s Restaurant News on Wednesday. “In the middle part of 2014, we embarked on strategy of putting senior CEO-level talent over both of our respective brands.”
Federico said the Bistro and Pei Wei brands each have “unique opportunities that require unique skills and unique experiences and unique talent.”
Last August, Wok HoldCo named Ralph Bower CEO of its Pei Wei concept.
Federico said that as CEO, Osanloo joins Wayne Jones, who joined P.F. Chang’s in November as president and chief operating officer, after five years as the COO at BJ’s Restaurants Inc. and 18 years at The Cheesecake Factory.
“That combination of strategic, visionary brand-building leadership that Michael brings to the company with the background of a Wayne Jones makes for a pretty powerful and exciting group,” Federico said.
The company made the decision in the middle of last year to have what Federico called “independent, dedicated and focused chief executive officer talent for the brands.”
He added that Bistro and Pei Wei brands are on different growth trajectories.
“The Pei Wei business is an under-penetrated, faster-growing opportunity in the fast-casual space,” Federico said. “We’re seeing some acceleration in new-store development in that brand. The Bistro brand is more mature, so new-unit growth is going to be more modest, but it does have aggressive international development. There’s plenty of green space for both of the brands.”
Federico said Larry Ryback, who had served as chief operating officer at the P.F. Chang’s bistro business, moved late last year to become president and chief operating officer of Wok HoldCo’s emerging True Food Kitchen business, which now has 10 units.
“That allowed us to rethink the P.F. Chang’s leadership,” Federico said, which led the Osanloo and Jones appointments.
P.F. Chang’s ranked No. 50 in the most recent Nation’s Restaurant News Top 100 census. The brand had about $899.6 million in U.S. systemwide same-store sales for the year ended December 2013.
Wok HoldCo LLC was created in 2012 when private-equity firm Centerbridge Partners L.P. took P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc. private.
As of Dec. 28, P.F. Chang’s owned and operated 211 domestic P.F. Chang’s restaurants in 39 states and 54 international locations.
This story has been revised to reflect the following update:
Update: March 11, 2015 This story has been updated with comments from Wok HoldCo LLC chairman Rick Federico and additional information.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless
