Stephen Carley joined Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. as Chief Executive Officer and as a director in September 2010. Prior to joining Red Robin, Carley served from April 2001 to August 2010 as the Chief Executive Officer of El Pollo Loco, Inc., a privately held restaurant company headquartered in Costa Mesa, California. Prior to his service at El Pollo Loco, Carley served in various management positions with several companies, including, PhotoPoint Corp., Universal City Hollywood, PepsiCo, Inc., and the Taco Bell Group.
Carley attended the University of Illinois College of Business where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance. He later attended Northwestern University where he received a master's degree with a concentration in marketing. [1]
Carley began his career in the food and beverage industry with PepsiCo Inc. During his 12 years at Pepsico during the 1980s and 1990s, Carley held several posts at Taco Bell. [2]
He became the CEO of El Pollo Loco after being laid-off from three positions. Carley credits the layoffs with his success saying, "I wouldn't have this phenomenal opportunity without those layoffs, and would have missed out on one of the most gratifying leadership opportunities of my career". [3] Carley was featured in NBC's The Apprentice alongside Donald Trump. During the sixth-season episode, Carley was the first person other than Trump to delegate an assignment to the contestants. [4]
Taco Bell Corp. is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, including tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, novelty, and speciality items, and a variety of "value menu" items. As of 2023, Taco Bell serves over two billion customers each year, at 8,212 restaurants, more than 94 percent of which are owned and operated by independent franchisees and licensees.
Yum! Brands, Inc., formerly Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., is an American multinational fast food corporation listed on the Fortune 1000. Yum! operates the brands KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill, except in China, where the brands are operated by a separate company, Yum China. Yum! previously also owned Long John Silver's and A&W Restaurants. The company was created as a spin-off of PepsiCo in 1997.
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El Pollo Loco (Spanish for "The Crazy Chicken") is the name of two independent restaurant chains that specialize in Mexican-style grilled chicken. Both were founded by Juan Francisco Ochoa. He established the first El Pollo Loco restaurant in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico in 1974. Ochoa then expanded his chain into the United States in 1980. He later sold his U.S. restaurants in 1983 while keeping the ones in Mexico. The two companies have since occupied non-overlapping global territories and have offered different fare.
Trans World Corporation was the original name of the holding company set up to own Trans World Airlines.
Taco Cabana is an American fast casual restaurant chain that serves Tex-Mex cuisine. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of YTC Enterprises LLC, and headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Taco Cabana is recognized for its "pink" color scheme and semi-enclosed patio dining areas. Many menu items are handmade daily on-site, in open-display cooking areas.
CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. is an American fast food corporation and is the parent organization for the Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Green Burrito, and Red Burrito brands. CKE Restaurants is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee.
Hot 'n Now is an American fast-food restaurant based in Holt, Michigan. Founded in 1984, the chain once grew to more than 150 locations throughout the United States at its peak. Subsequently, under the ownership of PepsiCo, the chain filed for bankruptcy in 2004, and was then sold to STEN Corporation. As of April 2024, the company operates 1 location in Michigan. The majority of the chain's locations focused entirely on drive-thru service, featuring a small-footprint building with a tall, slanted roof style. Some previous locations were more traditional fast-food locations, complete with seating, and others were combined with gas stations.
D'Angelo Grilled Sandwiches is a chain of 83 neighborhood-style sandwich shops found in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. D'Angelo Grilled Sandwiches was founded in Dedham, Massachusetts in 1967. It serves various kinds of grilled and deli sandwiches, rice and grain bowls, lobster rolls, grilled topped salads, wraps, and hot soups. The company's grilled sandwich Number 9 was called "the finest fast-food sandwich in the land" in a Bloomberg News column.
Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. is an American franchisee company and is the largest Burger King franchisee in the world; Carrols owns and operates over 1,000+ Burger Kings, and 55 Popeyes restaurants. The company has operated Burger Kings since 1976 in locations across 23 U.S. states.
Stephen Frasier Bollenbach was a financial manager and former CEO and CFO for many hotel-related organizations. After working with financier Daniel K. Ludwig from 1968 to 1980, he oversaw mergers and acquisitions for various corporations such as the Marriott Corporation, Holiday Corporation, Harrah's Entertainment, the Trump Organization, Disney, and Hilton Hotels. He was on numerous corporate boards, including the non-executive chairman of Los Angeles-based KB Home and a member of the board of directors of Time Warner. Additionally, Bollenbach was on the board of directors for American International Group, Inc. (AIG) during the 2007 financial crisis, and was also a director of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., Macy's, Inc., and the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.
Taco Palenque is a Mexican cuisine restaurant chain in Texas & Nuevo León. The restaurant is headquartered in Laredo, Texas and was established in 2017. The restaurant's main dishes are the flame-grilled beef or chicken fajita plate, parrillada, pirata taco, panchos drizzled with bean and cheese on top of tortilla chips, homemade desserts, and breakfast tacos. Taco Palenque's salad bar has more than 7 different homemade salsas.
Tom Davin is an American businessman known as the CEO of Panda Restaurant Group.
Albert Okura was an American businessman who was the founder and CEO of the Juan Pollo restaurant chain in Southern California. He was also a philanthropist and was active in the revitalization of Historic Route 66. In 2005, Okura purchased the town of Amboy, California, which is located along Route 66. The corporate headquarters for the Juan Pollo chain now sits on the original location of the first McDonald's restaurant where Okura created and hosted a museum, preserving artifacts and memorabilia about the landmark.
John Antioco is an American businessman, known for being the former CEO of the now bankrupt Blockbuster Video who missed an opportunity to purchase Netflix before it became a multi-billion dollar streaming platform. He is now chairman of the board of directors at BRIX Holdings LLC and the Managing Partner of JAMCO Interests LLC.
Greg Creed is an American businessman who was the CEO of Yum! Brands, from January 2015 until December 2019, when he retired, remaining on its board of directors.
El Pollo Loco, Inc., is a restaurant chain based in the United States, specializing in Mexican-style grilled chicken. Restaurant service consists of: dine-in and take-out, with some locations offering drive-through options. The company is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, and operates about 500 company-owned and franchised restaurants in the Southwestern United States.
El Pollo Loco, S.A. de C.V. is a Mexico-based restaurant chain specializing in Sinaloa-style marinated grilled chicken. It was founded by Juan Francisco Ochoa, whose family still owns the Mexican chain. The El Pollo Loco locations in Mexico are not affiliated with or operated by the American El Pollo Loco, Inc. El Pollo Loco operates in over 50 locations within Mexico City and the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, Michoacán, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas, of which 28 are located in Nuevo León.
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