Dirk Montgomery has been named permanent president and CEO of Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc., the company said Thursday.
Montgomery has been leading the company on an interim basis since Dec. 8, 2022, when he replaced Rich Stockinger, who had stepped down. Before that, Montgomery served as chief financial officer for Fiesta, which is parent to the fast-casual Pollo Tropical brand.
“The board and I are confident that Dirk is ideally suited to serve as our president and CEO,” said Stacey Rauch, chair of the board, in a statement. “We believe that his deep knowledge of the Pollo Tropical brand and its operations from having served as our CFO, together with his vast industry experience and disciplined business style, provide him with the right background and attributes to lead Fiesta and Pollo Tropical. As the interim CEO, Dirk moved quickly to maintain momentum and sharpen the focus of the leadership team on key opportunities.”
Before joining Fiesta in 2019, Montgomery served as CFO and head of supply chain at Hooters International, and at Bloomin’ Brands.
Montgomery said in a statement he has been working with the team to prioritize and accelerate key strategic initiatives.
“Consistent with this approach, we have placed tremendous focus on building operations excellence and creating a great guest experience, all while continuing to enhance our brand presence and developing the teams necessary to support these initiatives,” he said in a statement. “I am very excited to have the opportunity to continue working with the leadership team and our board to unlock the significant growth potential of this special brand.”
The chain is undergoing a refresh of restaurants. At the end of 2022, 32 units had been remodeled and the company said the refreshes at that point had generated a sales lift of about 4%.
Dallas-based Fiesta Restaurant Group operates 137 company-owned Pollo Tropical restaurants, and another 32 are franchised in the U.S., the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Panama, Guyana, Ecuador and the Bahamas.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.