Ken Myres

President
Tony Roma's

Ken Myres is President of Tony Roma’s, the operator and international franchisor of the largest casual theme restaurant chain specializing in ribs in the world.  There are Tony Roma’s in 33 countries around the world.  Prior to his appointment as President,  Mr. Myres served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the company since July, 2007.

Prior to joining Tony Roma’s in May of 2001, Mr. Myres was Vice President of Franchise Development and Operations for Fired Up, Inc. the parent company and franchisor of Johnny Carinos based in Austin, Texas.  
Mr. Myres was also Vice President of Franchise Development for various divisions of the Metromedia Restaurant Group in Dallas Texas.  He was responsible for starting the franchise program for Bennigan’s and sold the first Bennigan’s franchise to the Tong Yang group in South Korea.  That group is now the largest casual theme restaurant company in South Korea.

Mr. Myres held a number of officer and executive positions with other major franchise retail, hospitality and restaurant companies including Blockbuster in Dallas and Jack-In-The-Box in San Diego, CA.

Mr. Myres is an active member of the IFA, frequent contributor and speaker to franchise and industry publications and organizations.  He is active on several advisory boards including the Business school at Townview High School in Dallas, which was recently recognized as one of the top high schools in America by U.S. News and World Reports.  Mr. Myres started his business career in public accounting, first joining Arthur Young and Company in Chicago after graduating from Indiana University. Mr. Myres lives in Richardson, Texas with his wife Debbie and has three children.

What do you think will be the biggest industry trend in the last half of 2011?
I see two major trends that successful restauranteurs will need to address in the last half of 2011 and into 2012.  The first is optimizing a company or brand’s social media “personality, presence and strategy”.  Social media is not an optional component of a restaurant or chain’s marketing message.  A well thought out social media plan with constant recalibrating on multiple fronts is mandatory and becoming more critical every day.  The second trend I see regards menu labeling and nutritional information regulation.  What started out as many believed was “nuisance regulation “ has turned into viable consumer concerns.  While many consumers may disregard calorie or nutritional information, we have recently seen a large number who are actually changing their restaurant or quick serve meal choices based on a products calorie content.

What issue would you most like to see positively addressed by Florida’s legislature?
The economic health of Florida and our potential restaurant patrons who live in and who visit Florida is critical, so any programs to promote tourism in the state such as “Visit Florida” should be high priorities.  The entertainment, recreational and sports industries throughout the state have continued to invest in their infrastructures so I would like to see the legislature do whatever possible through tax credits or other economic incentives to keep those businesses investing for the future.

What is the single greatest factor in the success of your business?  
The single greatest factor for success in any restaurant is to have great food.  The bar has been raised over the past several years in quick service, casual and fine dining and today’s restaurant patron’s demand quality, consistently prepared new and “old favorite” menu items.  Tony Roma’s opened their first restaurant almost 40 years ago in Miami and while we still feature our famous baby back ribs, we have added many high quality, new and unique appetizer and entrée items to our menu which now draw in new guests.

How has participation in FRLA positively affected your business?
The FRLA is one of the most professional industry trade organizations in the country.  We have restaurants across the U.S. and in 33 countries around the world and the hands on support, involvement, lobbying and leadership from the FRLA has been outstanding.  They understand the industry and work hard to promote Florida restaurants on every front.

Is there anything you would like to share with Florida’s hospitality industry members?
Florida is one of the strongest markets in the U.S. for Tony Roma’s.  We feel privileged to operate our restaurants in Florida and feel there is still tremendous opportunity for new growth and expansion throughout the state.

How has your business strategy changed over the last few years?
Tony Roma’s legacy for famous baby back ribs has helped build very strong awareness of the brand, but our “revolution” of the menu over the past three years with cutting edge new and unique items has been a huge focus for us.  In addition we have made major changes to our restaurant’s  interior and exterior décor and ambiance as well as fine tuning in all of our training and guest service programs.  We’re not your father’s Tony Roma’s……