Saladworks, the nation's first and largest fresh-tossed salad restaurant chain, today announced the hiring of Charles Bruton III as its new vice president of Operations. The selection of Bruton was driven by the company's aggressive growth strategy, launched in the third quarter 2015, focusing on expanding store locations, strengthening franchisee relations, and continuing to build on the power of the brand. Bruton began his position on July 6. While Bruton will be based out of the Saladworks headquarters in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, he anticipates spending about 50 percent of his time visiting Saladworks locations.
An operations executive with more than twenty years of experience in franchise operations and development, Bruton spent the past decade as American vice president of Franchise Operations, North America for Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation. Some of Bruton's business high-points with Krispy Kreme include: leading the turnaround of franchisee businesses, resulting in twenty-one consecutive quarters of positive comp sales among franchisees; creating a franchise system to drive sales and improve franchisee relationships; enhancing franchisee communications and collaborations resulting in increased franchisee participation in promotional/marketing efforts; and exceeding budgeted and prior year sales and EBITDA for more than four years.
"With his franchisee and operations experience, Charles Bruton is ideal for Saladworks as we enter an exciting new chapter focused on growing the brand, our nationwide footprint, and our support for franchisees," says Paul Steck, president and CEO, Saladworks. "We have big visions and big ideas; it takes someone like Charles… with his depth of experience in the industry and passion for service… to make sure they all come to fruition and at the same time drive profit for our company and our franchisees."
"With Charles providing his day-to-day leadership and infusing his creative and strategic aptitude into Saladworks at the operations, training, and guest services levels, I am confident Saladworks is once again on a high-speed course for growth," Steck adds. "His leadership will maintain all that distinguishes our brand and result in more and more customers experiencing the freshest, on-the-go dining that evolves with health trends and lifestyles."
In June, Saladworks announced plans to increase its home-office staff by more than 40 percent over six months to support growth initiatives and elevate franchise relationships.
