Honest Burgers appoints new CEO and looks to expand

Thomas Kelly has been appointed as the new CEO of a popular restaurant chain, tasked with overseeing the business through its next phase of growth. 

Kelly will now steer the expansion of Honest Burgers, having started his career at McDonald's as a graduate trainee. He then became a member of the executive board as vice president of the UK, before taking the CEO position in Finland and Sweden, where he delivered seven consecutive quarters of profitable sales growth and 40% EBITDA growth in three years. More recently, Kelly served as global executive director of Costa Coffee. 

"Ultimately, I love running restaurants – from my first McDonald's site through to being responsible for hundreds of sites in the Nordics, it's always been about the people that make incredible experiences for customers," says Kelly. "I have always admired Honest Burgers from afar, so the opportunity to help them grow such a strong brand, with the best product in the category, was too good to miss."

A new era

Frank Hayes has stepped down as CEO of Honest Burgers to pursue other opportunities, having steered the business through Covid-19 and its aftermath. Hayes helped build strong foundations for the brand's future growth, seeing the business deliver market-leading sales momentum over the last 18 months.

Tom Barton, co-founder of Honest Burgers, comments: "We'd like to thank Frank for everything he has done to move the business forward over the last three years. He has tirelessly set the foundations for our next chapter of growth. We're really excited about welcoming Thomas to the team – his experience in running restaurant businesses is as good as it gets, and he has delivered exceptional growth in his previous roles, which is exactly what we need to grow Honest Burgers."

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