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Inspire Brands names Dunkin’ president Scott Murphy chief brand officer for all six of its restaurant conceptsInspire Brands names Dunkin’ president Scott Murphy chief brand officer for all six of its restaurant concepts

Dan Lynn now heads all company-owned restaurants

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

November 30, 2023

2 Min Read
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Inspire Brands has restructured its executive suite, naming Scott Murphy, who had been president of Dunkin’, chief brand officer for all restaurants in the company’s portfolio. Dan Lynn’s title of chief commercial officer has been renamed chief commercial and restaurant officer and he has been given new responsibilities. Christian Charnaux is retaining his position as chief growth officer.

A search for a new Dunkin' brand president is underway, according to Inspire Brands senior manager for corporate communications Jack D'amato.

Atlanta-based Inspire, parent company of Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and Sonic Drive-In, said in a release that the restructuring, which took place in mid-November, gave the company clear leaders of its three “primary operational pillars” — brands, commercial and company restaurants, and growth.

“This organizational realignment is designed to enhance focus and coordination within and across these three core business areas, as well as fully leverage the core strategic capabilities provided by Inspire’s data and technology-enabled platform,” the release said.

Murphy now oversees all six brands, with their respective brand presidents (“brand head” in the case of Baskin-Robbins), reporting to him. Inspire said the new structure is intended to allow for better coordination among the brands and the with the company’s shared services while still allowing for each brand’s distinct identity.

Related:Claudia San Pedro steps down from Sonic Drive-In in Inspire Brands reshuffle

Lynn now overseas all company-owned restaurants across all brands, a total of nearly 2,200 units. He also is head of communications. Lynn will continue to oversee the Commercial Group, which includes the demand generation, product management, data and analytics, customer marketing, and digital retail departments.

Inspire said that Lynn’s new responsibilities would improve the group’s ability to use company-owned restaurants to test innovation, which should accelerate operational improvements systemwide.

Charnaux is still in charge of unit growth domestically and internationally and the international, development, and supply chain teams still report to him.

“This revised organizational structure positions us for accelerated growth and will further enhance the advantages of our tightly integrated shared services platform,” CEO Paul Brown said in the release. “Ultimately, we believe Inspire’s combination of strong, differentiated brands and its highly innovative business model will continue to drive enhanced value for our franchisees and other stakeholders.”

Related:Natalie Rothman named Inspire Brands chief people officer

Globally, there are more than 31,000 restaurants under Inspire’s six brands, including company-owned and franchised restaurants.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

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/
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