News

Meyer picked to drive new growth of Nancy's pizza, Al's Chicago Beef

January 24, 2006

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CHICAGO — John "Mitch" Meyer has been appointed president and chief operating officer of the Restaurant Division of Chicago Franchise Systems Inc. (CFS), parent company of Al's Chicago's #1 Italian Beef and Nancy's stuffed pizza chains.

According to a news release, Meyer most recently served as vice president of Portillo's Restaurant Group, capping a 29-year career with the casual-dining chain.

Meyer will focus on developing the infrastructure necessary to launch CFS's aggressive five-year growth plans.

"No other Midwest-based chain operation has plans that involve the kind of growth we are looking at this year for both Al's Beef and Nancy's Pizza operations," said Dave Howey, chief executive of CFS. "To make those plans a reality, we need to upgrade our infrastructure, from training to operations."

Currently there are 37 Nancy's units and 20 Al's units in operation. Nancy's has eight new units scheduled to open this year, and Al's has 10.