Taco Del Mar Hires New CFO

Taco Del Mar announced that it has hired Rick Braa as chief financial officer to replace its past vice president of finance, who left the company. Nation’s Restaurant News reports about this and high executive turnover with the chain:

Braa’s appointment is the latest in a number of executive suite changes during the past two years for the franchisor of the Taco Del Mar chain, which totals more than 240 restaurants.

Departed finance vice president Stewart joined Taco Del Mar in 2002, and the appointment of his successor marks one of the first executive hires by company president and chief executive Larry Destro, who was been on the job since May…  As chief executive, Destro filled a spot left vacant since September 2008 by the resignation of company co-founder, chairman and chief executive James Schmidt, who resigned reportedly to pursue another business opportunity but remained the private enterprise’s largest shareholder. Destro’s appointment by the Taco Del Mar board also filled the president’s post empty for a short time by the unexplained departure of Kevin Hansen, the former chief operating officer who had been promoted to president only seven months earlier.

Destro previously had been president of Dunkin’ Brands’ international division for both Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Schmidt had assumed the presidency in late 2007 following the resignation of David Huether, who had spent three years in that role for the company founded in 1992.

… Pre-recession talk of adding a hundred-plus franchised units in a year, has been mostly quieted as the net size of the Taco Del Mar actually has contracted by about 10 percent since 2007 in a business environment that left some franchisees crying foul about chain strategies and practices.