Black Bear Diner, the rapidly expanding family dining concept headquartered in Redding, California, announced the addition of Mark Seferian as vice president of real estate and Teri Hathaway as vice president of training. Seferian, formerly the first vice president of CBRE’s Restaurant Practice Group, is charged with developing and executing all aspects of real estate development to support company growth plans and concept enhancement. Hathaway, formerly director of training at Margaritaville Caribbean Group is charged with designing and delivering impactful training content to maximize brand consistency across new and existing corporate and franchise locations.
“Mark and Teri will play vital roles as we continue with our accelerated growth trajectory,” says Bruce Dean, chief executive officer of Black Bear Diner. “Our real estate transactions help crystalize our expansion plans; our training program dictates the continuity of our brand. These are important positions and we’re confident Mark and Teri’s leadership in their respective areas will be a tremendous asset to Black Bear Diner.”
The addition of Seferian and Hathaway come on the heels of recent additions to the Black Bear Diner leadership team. Anita Adams was recently appointed chief financial officer; Tim Kaliher was recently appointed chief operating officer; and Robin Yoshimura was recently appointed chief franchise officer. Black Bear Diner is scaling up its leadership and management team as the brand expands nationally.
Black Bear Diner has experienced increased same-store-sales over the last 24 quarters, and also experienced a 15.3 percent increase in system wide net sales from 2015 to 2016. This year, Black Bear is on track to open up 21 new units, including their 100th restaurant in the second quarter.
