Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. announced the appointment of Jonathan Muhtar as senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
Muhtar will be responsible for driving all aspects of Red Robin's marketing and menu, positioning the brand for optimum performance in the highly competitive casual dining industry. He will lead Red Robin teams in the areas of menu innovation and implementation, customer relationship management, social media, brand positioning, pricing, promotions, and field marketing, as well as directing media strategy. He will report to Denny Marie Post, Red Robin's executive vice president and chief concept officer.
"Jonathan's proven track record of developing and leading powerful marketing teams and his extensive experience in the restaurant industry will be invaluable in driving Red Robin's business results," Post says. "In addition to his leadership talents, Jonathan's infinite curiosity, passion for taking on big challenges and combination of solid analytical and creative thinking will serve us well as we continue to build our brand and deliver a great guest experience."
Muhtar brings to Red Robin more than 20 years of marketing and sales experience in branding, marketing, and product innovation. Before joining Red Robin, Muhtar served as executive vice president and chief marketing officer for the Captain D's restaurant chain where he built and led a team that helped revitalize the brand and drive significant improvements in same store sales and unit volumes. He previously held global marketing, new concept strategy and product marketing roles during a highly successful career at Burger King, served as a consultant at Swander Pace & Company and, as an entrepreneur, owned and operated the first Smoothie King franchise in South Florida.
Muhtar earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Tulane University in New Orleans.
