Company Strengthens Leadership Team; Industry Leader Will Oversee Company Operations
MOD Super Fast Pizza Holdings, LLC (“MOD Pizza”, “MOD” or the “Company”), today announced the appointment of John Maguire to the role Chief Operating Officer (“COO”), effective October 22, 2018. As MOD’s new COO, Maguire will lead the company’s store operations across 380+ locations, with a strong focus on all phases of expansion and growth. He will be based in MOD’s headquarters outside of Seattle, reporting directly to Paul Twohig, MOD’s President (Twohig was previously President and COO). Twohig will continue to lead store development (domestic and international real estate, design and construction), culinary, supply chain, and international and franchise operations.
Maguire was previously President and Chief Executive Officer of FIC Restaurants Inc. (Friendly’s restaurants), a position he held since 2012. In 2016, he subsequently took on the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of Johnny Rockets Group in addition to his position with FIC. Across both private-equity-owned companies, Maguire led global operations, franchising and store development for a combined 625 locations with total annual sales exceeding $800M.
Prior to his time with Friendly’s and Johnny Rockets, Maguire spent 20 years at Panera Bread, in numerous retail operations roles, the last six of which were spent as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. At Panera, Maguire operated over 1,500 bakery cafes, producing in excess of $3.5B in annual systemwide sales. He also built over 700 new locations during his time as Panera’s COO.
“As a leader at Panera during their formative years of growth combined with his experience leading two loved brands, John brings the perfect mix of deep operating expertise combined with experience sustaining the culture required to build an iconic brand,” said Scott Svenson, co-founder and CEO of MOD. “Most importantly, though, John lives the values and beliefs at the heart of MOD. The thing which most attracted him was our commitment to using our business as a platform to make a positive impact on our people and the communities we serve. We could not be more thrilled to welcome him, and are confident that his track record of leading operations across large, multi-unit brands will allow us to further strengthen the MOD experience.”
Added Maguire, “I’m excited to join MOD at such a pivotal time in the company’s history and to be a part of a team that is committed to developing a best-in-class brand by staying true to its purpose-led culture that is truly unique in the fast casual dining industry. I couldn’t be more thrilled to work alongside MOD’s talented team to help magnify the company’s purpose and help expand on their incredible success over the past several years.”
MOD is a purpose-led, people focused brand, founded in Seattle in 2008 by entrepreneur husband and wife team Scott and Ally Svenson. MOD exists to serve people by Spreading MODness, using the platform of pizza to make positive impacts. MOD’s individual artisan-style pizzas are made on demand, allowing customers to create their own pizzas and salads, using fresh-pressed dough, signature sauces and over 30 toppings, all for one incredible price. With more than 380 locations system-wide across 28 states and the United Kingdom, MOD is committed to creating not only a cool place to eat, but an inspired place to work. The company has been recognized as the number one mid-sized restaurant chain in the US in the October 2017 Fishbowl Buzz Brands Report, named as the most loved pizza brand by Foodable Network in its May 2017 Most Loved Brands Report, has been ranked as America’s fastest growing chain restaurant by Technomic, earned a spot on the Inc.500 list, and was recognized by Fortune as one of the “20 Best Workplaces in Retail,” a “Best Workplace for Women,” a “Best Workplace for Millennials,” and a “Best Workplace for Diversity.” For more information, please visit www.modpizza.com or connect with the brand via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
