Chairman and CEO, Kevin Blackwell, announced today that Chris Prasifka has been named president of Kahala Franchise Corp, the franchisor entity of Kahala’s portfolio of diversified concepts. Prasifka joined Kahala, the $1.1 billion company, in October 2007 as executive vice president to the chief executive officer. With more than 20 years of experience in the food service and franchising industries, Prasifka has a long results-oriented track record for building strong brand equity while increasing operator profits.

In his new role, Prasifka will lead the charge in achieving Kahala’s goal of 10,000 units by the end of 2010, while building strong brand equity and increasing operator profits across Kahala’s system. Prasifka will continue reporting to Blackwell.

“I’m pleased to announce this new leadership role for Chris,” said Blackwell. “He has a comprehensive operating background, a strong commitment to franchisees and is recognized for his leadership in gaining consensus both internally and externally in very diverse franchise organizations.”

“I am excited to have the opportunity to be an instrumental leader during this exciting time at Kahala,” commented Prasifka. “We will continue to build on the collective success of our brands and add value for our franchisee partners, Kahala employees and our restaurant guests.”

Before joining Kahala, Prasifka was senior vice president of Franchise Operations and Strategic Development at Compass Group’s Canteen division. Prior to that, Prasifka was the COO at FOCUS Brands, where he successfully led initiatives to reimage and revitalize the Carvel brand, and handled the integration of acquisitions of Cinnabon and Seattle’s Best Coffee International. Prasifka also spent a large portion of his career in various senior management positions at Mrs. Fields Famous Brands and its subsidiary, TCBY.

David Guarino will continue as the president of Kahala Corp, working directly with Kevin Blackwell on strategic corporate initiatives.