Leadership

Burger King franchisee Carrols names Ahmad Filsoof as VP strategic initiatives

The former Amazon Web Services and McDonald’s executive will work on strategy and business innovation.
Burger King franchisee executive appointment
Photograph: Shutterstock

Carrols Restaurant Group, Burger King’s largest franchisee, on Wednesday named Ahmad Filsoof as its new vice president of strategic initiatives.

The position is a new one for the Syracuse, N.Y.-based company. Filsoof will oversee strategic capabilities and business innovation at Carrols, which operates more than 1,000 Burger King locations.

Filsoof has more than 15 years of experience in strategy development and planning, business and consumer insights, performance management, consulting and technology. Before Carrols, he worked with Amazon Web Services. Before that, he worked with McDonald’s as senior director, strategy, insights and strategic initiatives. He led strategy for the company’s U.S. division and was responsible for measuring performance and providing consumer and business insights.

Before that, Filsoof had been a consultant for a decade. “Ahmad brings considerable talent and experience to the company from his work across a variety of industries and I know our executive team will benefit greatly from his ability to think strategically and offer new insights,” Paulo Pena, CEO of Carrols, said in a statement. Pena came to Carrols earlier this year.

Filsoof joins Carrols at a time of considerable change. The operator has struggled with profitability amid Burger King’s overall sales struggles combined with rising costs for food and labor.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Despite their complaints, customers keep flocking to Chipotle

The Bottom Line: The chain continued to be a juggernaut last quarter, with strong sales and traffic growth, despite frequent social media complaints about shrinkflation or other challenges.

Operations

Hitting resistance elsewhere, ghost kitchens and virtual concepts find a happy home in family dining

Reality Check: Old-guard chains are finding the alternative operations to be persistently effective side hustles.

Financing

The Tijuana Flats bankruptcy highlights the dangers of menu miscues

The Bottom Line: The fast-casual chain’s problems following new menu debuts in 2021 and 2022 show that adding new items isn’t always the right idea.

Trending

More from our partners