JOSEPH N. STEIN
BOARD PROFILE
A rich diversity of experience describes Joseph’s career. Board Member, Lead Director, Author, CFO, SVP of Innovation, Entrepreneur, and CPA all describe roles Joseph has successfully navigated. This experience serves as a strong foundation for Joseph’s service on various boards over the past ten years in the restaurant/retail and franchise sectors. Joseph has served on audit, compensation and nominating committees, and has chaired both the audit and compensation committees. This foundation is further bolstered by his additional 21 years of board-level experience through previous C-suite roles. Joseph uses his innovation and strategic experience to work with the board, PE owners and management to optimize the growth and eventual successful sale of their privately-owned companies. He also excels at using his public company experience to help guide companies through the processes needed for increasing shareholder value, ensuring regulatory compliance, and building shareholder transparency.
Joseph has been Lead Director at Del Taco Corporation, a 580 unit publicly traded restaurant chain based in California. As Chair of the Audit Committee, he provided support to the CFO and Director of Internal Audit as the Company went through the Sarbanes Oxley process after it went public (through a SPAC) in 2015. Joseph’s restaurant/growth/new market expansion experience complemented the strategies undertaken during his tenure at Del Taco during which the franchise community enjoyed 8 straight years of same store sale growth. Del Taco recently concluded a sale process, closing in March 2022, in which it was acquired by Jack in the Box Restaurants, Inc. at a premium of 66% over its closing price.
Concurrently, Joseph had served on the board of Home Franchise Concepts (“HFC”), which has four franchised brands serving the home industry, of which Budget Blinds is the largest. He began his tenure on the board in 2016 as Trilantic Capital Partners purchased this Company from the original founders. HFC was a typical home-grown concept, very successful but sorely in need of professional management to take its systems and sales to the next level. Joseph’s experience as SVP of Innovation of El Pollo Loco and as CFO of Fidelity National Financial (when it grew at a CAGR of over 100% over five years) provided essential insights as HFC put the infrastructure in place to grow rapidly, complete an add-on acquisition and then complete a highly successful sale to JM Family Enterprises in 2019.
Joseph also served on the board of Ignite Restaurant Group, owners of Joe’s Crab Shack, providing much needed audit committee and board guidance through a turbulent time; joining the board after it had gone public, experienced an accounting restatement and acquired a challenged restaurant concept. Joseph’s board service also extended to volunteer positions at Goodwill Industries, and more recently, at Susan G. Komen Orange County, which is a leading charity supporting the fight against breast cancer. As Joseph lost both a mother and sister to breast cancer, supporting this great organization is a personal passion.
Joseph began his professional career at KPMG as a CPA in the audit department. He was recruited by one of his clients, Fidelity National Financial (“FNF”) and was promoted from Treasurer to Controller to SVP of National Agency Operations. In this last role, Joe, created a unified national platform out of a patchwork of disparate networks that were a result of numerous acquisitions. Then, FNF Chairman William (Bill) Foley (current owner of the Las Vegas Knights), who had just acquired a controlling interest in CKE Restaurants Inc. (“CKE”}, tapped Joseph for the CFO role there. During his tenure, CKE completed three acquisitions and drove the stock price from $6 to $34.
As part of Joseph’s due diligence during the acquisition of Checkers Drive-in Restaurants, Inc., he noted the poor operations that was driving down the value of the Company. Bill asked Joseph to move to Florida to help turn around the Company. He moved to Checkers as Chief Administrative Officer and, in a short six months, improved the cash flow by over one million dollars per month. Joseph subsequently led the merger of Checkers with Rally’s Hamburgers (through a management agreement), combining corporate offices and realizing multi-million dollar corporate and purchasing efficiencies.
Joseph was then recruited back to California to help take Rubio’s Restaurants public. He helped put much of the public infrastructure in place at this high growth chain over the 3 ½ years he spent there as they increased restaurant count by 50% YOY subsequent to their IPO. He then was subsequently recruited to and spent over eight years at El Pollo Loco, first as CFO and then during the last two years there as SVP of Strategy and Innovation. He helped EPL through a successful sale by American Securities to Trimaran Capital Partners, and then led a subsequent public bond offering, from which he gained valuable experience leading the Sarbanes Oxley process.
It was Joseph’s self-created role as SVP of Strategy and Innovation where his career once again evolved. During this time, where his innovation efforts (such the California Restaurant Meals program and Costco retail program) added millions in sales and profits through new revenue streams, he realized there was no simple guide for Chief Innovation Officers. He subsequently left EPL to write a book that guides these leaders on how to create an innovative Company (https://www.amazon.com/Bottom-up-Top-Down-Innovation-Innovate-Innovative/dp/0984922431). His authorship and consulting role soon turned into an entrepreneurial role as he and a business partner now are franchise owners of 13 Blaze Pizza restaurants.
Joseph attended California State University at Long Beach, where he graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science – Business Administration with emphasis in Accounting. He was a member of Beta Alphi Psi and Beta Gamma Sigma and is a former Certified Public Accountant (State of California). He also attended the BMGI Chief Innovation Officer Seminar in Denver, CO. Joseph’s passions included triathlons, including both the Ironman and Half-Ironman World Championships, but he now enjoys mountain biking, having recently completed the challenging Leadville, CO 100 mountain bike race.