MOD Pizza announced that John Dikos, CFE, has joined the company as vice president, strategic partnerships.
Dikos comes to MOD Pizza from Qdoba Mexican Grill, where he most recently served as director of franchise development.
Dikos will focus on accelerating the company’s growth into key markets across the United States with franchise partners. MOD operates nine restaurants in Washington, with an additional seven units set to open in Washington, Oregon, and California by December 2013.
“MOD is entering an exciting phase of growth,” says CEO Scott Svenson. “Over the past five years, we have thoughtfully built the business through company-owned stores with the goal of creating a unique and scalable brand and customer experience.
“As we accelerate the development of company stores, we have decided the time is right to invite a select number of experienced operators to partner with us to build MOD into a national brand,” he adds. “We believe John is ideal to lead these efforts because he is a great fit with our values and culture, he has all the tools to excel in the role, and he clearly understands that partner selection goes far beyond having capital and restaurant experience. While we plan to be very selective when choosing our partners, we do anticipate swift growth.”
“MOD has created a truly unique brand and culture,” Dikos says. “It may be common to talk about culture, but refreshing and rare to truly commit to it. I’m confident that professional restaurant organizations that want to enter the fast-casual pizza space will find MOD’s approach very appealing. While we are committed to building a national brand, we intend to accomplish this by building one great store at a time, each of which is deeply connected to the local community it serves. With the momentum we currently enjoy, I am confident we will add some strong partners to the MOD family in the months ahead.”
Dikos brings a strong financial and franchising background to MOD Pizza. In 2000, he cofounded Capital Avenue, an online commercial lending company, which was eventually acquired by National Cooperative Bank (NCB). Dikos remained with NCB in its small business–lending unit and newly formed franchise finance group, where he focused on the restaurant segment.
In 2007, Dikos joined Qdoba Mexican Grill as manager of franchise development and was promoted to director of franchise development in 2010. In 2012, he was promoted again to oversee all franchise development, legal, and relationship management. During his nearly seven years with Qdoba, the chain grew from 300 to more than 600 restaurants through both company and franchise development.
