Black Bear Diner Promotes Anita Adams to Chief Executive Officer

Black Bear Diner has promoted Anita Adams to chief executive officer and hireed restaurant veteran Jeff Guido to be chief operating officer. Bruce Dean, the brand’s co-founder and CEO, will remain active with the company as executive chairman.

With 24 years of broad leadership and transaction experience across private and public companies, Adams was most recently president of Black Bear Diner, overseeing short- and long-term strategies that drove the brand’s rapid growth and performance, as well as the franchise’s shared services, including operations, franchise and corporate development and human resources. Adams first joined the company in 2017 as chief financial officer. In March of 2019, Adams was promoted to president in addition to her role as CFO. In October that same year, the company hired Steve Sparks to assume the role of CFO, allowing Adams to focus on her role as President.

Guido joins Black Bear Diner as chief operating officer by way of American Blue Ribbon Holdings (ABRH), a diversified food service company, where he held the position of president for the Family Restaurant Division, overseeing all financial and administrative aspects of Village Inn and Baker’s Square restaurant concepts. During that time, Guido built an exceptional team that delivered 26 consecutive quarters of same store sales growth. With over 40 years leading major restaurant brands, Guido has consistently built value for stakeholders by identifying strategic opportunities to provide exceptional customer service.