Portillo’s Chief Operating Officer Derrick Pratt is departing from the fast-casual chain on June 30, the company said Thursday.
No explanation was given in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The departure will be treated as a “qualifying termination,” meaning Pratt is entitled to certain severance benefits, a prorated bonus and the option of extended health coverage, as well as certain stock options.
Company officials in a statement said, “We are grateful for [Pratt’s] contributions to drive operations forward during his time with Portillo’s. This decision comes as we continue to execute our accelerated growth strategy and seek to uncover operational efficiencies and improvements at scale.”
The company also said it has retained executive search firm The Elliot Group in the search for a new head of operations. In the interim, operations leaders will report directly to CEO Michael Osanloo.
Derrick Pratt. | Photo courtesy of Portillo's.
Pratt has served in the COO role at Portillo’s for more than three years, according to his LinkedIn page. He joined the company in 2020 as senior vice president of restaurants after spending about 11 years at Starbucks, where he was most recently vice president of operations. Before that, he worked with McDonald’s USA in operations for more than two decades.
Portillo’s reported a 3.2% decline in transactions during the first quarter, which was blamed on bad weather and a challenging macro environment. Osanloo noted that lower-income guests are feeling pressured and have “reached a boiling point” on pricing.
Operationally, the company has been working on speeding drive-thru service, and is testing kiosks. A smaller Restaurant of the Future format with lower buildout costs is also scheduled to debut in Texas later this year.
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