Twin Peaks has named former Brinker International executive Starlette Johnson to succeed founder Randy DeWitt as CEO of the fast-growing breastaurant chain.
DeWitt will devote more time to his other restaurant endeavors, yet the two will work together on “key brand initiatives,” the chain said.
“Bringing Starlette on board allows me more time to focus on my first love, creating and developing new restaurants, while providing Twin Peaks with the strong dedicated leader it deserves,” DeWitt said in a statement. “Starlette is a proven leader and strategic thinker who is the perfect person to help us take Twin Peaks to the next level of growth.”
The other concepts run by DeWitt’s Front Burner Restaurants include Velvet Taco, Whiskey Cake and Mexican Sugar.
Johnson, a former CEO of Dave & Buster’s and former chief strategic officer and executive VP at Brinker International, has been a strategic advisor to Twin Peaks since January of this year. She originally worked with DeWitt more than a decade ago, when Brinker acquired his Rockfish Seafood Grill chain of restaurants.
“I am excited to have the chance to partner with Randy and lead a very talented team,” Johnson said. “Randy has an uncanny sense of where the consumer is going, which will be invaluable as we work to further enhance the Twin Peaks brand. We’ll continue to focus on elevating the experience for our guests, which will create new growth opportunities for our people and partners.”
The 68-unit Twin Peaks chain received much media attention earlier this year when a franchised location in Waco, Texas, was the site of a biker-gang shooting and was later disenfranchised.
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