Industry Vet Jim Esposito Takes On COO Role at BurgerFi
BurgerFi International Inc. hired QSR-industry veteran Jim Esposito to be Chief Operating Officer. Esposito is recognized as an influential leader in the restaurant industry with over 20 years of experience and a successful track record of delivering best-in-class results for public and private growth companies. Esposito’s QSR experience includes positions at Burger King Corp., a Restaurant Brands International Inc. subsidiary, Panera Bread Company and Papa Gino’s Inc.
“Jim Esposito built his career around successfully managing people and processes for high-quality organizations in very competitive and fast-paced environments and has achieved tremendous success,” said Ophir Sternberg, Executive Chairman of BurgerFi. “Esposito’s industry experience and positive track record with food-centric and publicly traded companies made him an exceptional candidate as COO.”
Most recently as Senior Vice President of Operations for Planet Fitness Esposito grew market share and revenue streams. Esposito worked for Panera Bread, where he collaborated with a cross-functional team to drive business results, improve drive-thru process efficiencies and introduce Panera 2.0, an integrated experience that meets the differentiated needs of to-go, dine-in, and large order delivery customers through new mechanisms for ordering, payment processing, and consumer consumption.
Previously, Esposito held the position of Chief Operating Officer at Papa Gino’s which included two brands, Papa Gino’s Pizzeria and D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches, where he was directly responsible for creating an environment that delivered exceptional operations, sales growth, and increased profitability for 336 restaurants and over 25 licensees which resulted in annual sales of $250 million.
Esposito spent over a decade at Burger King, where he held a number of key operations positions such as running the Atlanta and Boston company markets and directing strategic and tactical leadership for field operations. In his last role as Senior Director of Global Restaurant Systems and Development, he provided restaurant technology support to over 1,400 restaurants in 10 countries.