Steve Easterbrook has left Pizza Express after less than a year as its chief executive to join Wagamama, the fast-casual noodle chain, as the successor to Steve Hill.
With an extensive experience of company owned and franchise models and significant experience internationally, Easterbrook joins Wagamama as it plans to open 15 restaurants a year in the UK, alongside “significant” expansion of its international business.
It currently directly operates 81 restaurants in the UK and three in the US, with a further 35 operated under franchise globally.
Easterbrook joined Pizza Express last September after spending 18 years with McDonald’s, where he eventually become head of the fast food chain’s European division. He was acknowledged as having turned around the fortunes of the fast food operator here as its UK chief executive.
At Pizza Express, he replaced Mark Angela, who left the c.400-strong pizza chain at the start of July last year.
Hill stepped down from Wagamama, which was acquired by Duke Street last year for c£215m, in June after six years as chief executive.
On the back of Easterbrook’s appointment, Wagamama said it had a clear strategy, backed by Duke Street and Hutton Collins, of continuing to expand both in the UK and overseas. Last year, it said that the chain could potentially expand to 300 sites in the UK.
David Williams, chairman of Wagamama, said: “Steve Easterbrook will be a terrific addition to an already strong team. I have admired what he has done in his previous roles and I and the rest of the Board are delighted that he is joining to help us in our next phase of development.”
Easterbrook said: “Wagamama is a great business with huge potential both here in the UK and further afield. I am looking forward to working with the team, Duke Street and Hutton Collins in realising the full potential of this exciting and formidable brand”.
Comment by M&C Report editor Mark Wingett
At the time of Steve Hill’s departure, I said that Wagamama was arguably the best brand with the most legs internationally and the role as its chief executive should still be viewed as one of the best jobs in casual dining. That job is now being filled by one of the most respected operators in the eating-out market. An operator perfectly suited to take the chain forward not just in the UK but most importantly internationally.
In the hard copy of M&C, I suggested that the group was at a point in its life cycle where it was gearing up for a “Yum!-esque appointment”, a point only underlined with David Williams, a former president of Burger King in Europe, positioned as chairman. In Easterbrook, with 18 years at McDonald’s behind him, they have made one.
As Wagamama looks forward, Easterbrook’s departure could lead to a period of introspection at Gondola. His appointment was a significant coup for the Cinven-backed group, his departure will be viewed as a blow. Experienced in brand development and franchising on an international scale, Easterbrook was viewed as the perfect appointment to carry out Gondola’s ambition of rolling out the pizza brand both nationally and internationally.
Many in the industry also viewed his appointment as the first step in the spin off of the pizza chain, with investors being drawn to the McDonald’s man’s undoubted expertise and the continuing rollout potential of Gondola’s core brand, management believes that there is scope for a further 200 sites in the UK alone.
His departure comes on the back of the announcement last month that Helen Jones, managing director of Gondola’s Zizzi chain, is to join Caffe Nero before the end of the year.
The spotlight now turns on Gondola chief executive Harvey Smyth to see if he can pull off another appointment coup with all the credentials Easterbrook brought to the role. As Wagamama heads off back down the road after a quick driver change, it is now Gondola and Pizza Express, in particular, that finds itself at a crossroads.
