Nothing Bundt Cakes on Tuesday named Dolf Berle CEO.
Berle takes over for Sarah Spiegel, who had been interim chief executive.
Berle comes to the 500-unit Nothing Bundt Cakes from Lindblad Expeditions, an adventure travel operator, where he had been CEO. He previously was the chief executive with the food-and-golf chain Topgolf and before that was chief operating officer with Dave & Buster’s.
He takes over the country’s biggest specialty cakes chain, with more than 500 locations in more than 40 states and Canada. It sells specialty Bundt cakes in 8- and 10-inch varieties along with Bundtinis, which are cupcake-sized Bundt cakes, and miniature “Bundtlets.”
Nothing Bundt Cakes (NBC) said Berle had a “strong track record” of profitable revenue growth, unit expansion, digital transformation, data-driven decision making and “a deep commitment to organizational culture and values.” Berle’s new CEO position is “effective immediately.”
“During his time at both Topgolf and Dave & Buster’s, Dolf led efforts that nearly doubled unit count and increased average unit volume by double digits,” Spiegel, a managing director with Roark Capital, said in a statement. “That growth mindset is key to what we want to achieve at Nothing Bundt Cakes.”
The Addison, Texas-based NBC has quietly been one of the strongest growth chains in the U.S. in recent years. System sales rose 14.6% last year, according to data from Restaurant Business sister company Technomic. Unit count rose 11.6%. The chain’s unit volumes average nearly $1.4 million. “Nothing Bundt Cakes has quietly become the leading specialty cake bakery brand in the nation,” Berle said in a statement.
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