ATLANTA -- FOCUS Brands Inc. recently announced that it has hired John Barber as senior vice president of franchise sales. The 25-year veteran will oversee new-business development for Carvel Ice Cream, Cinnabon, Seattle's Best Coffee, Schlotzsky's, Moe's Southwest Grill and Auntie Anne's Pretzels.
Barber has more than 25 years of franchise sales, marketing, purchasing and operations experience in various industries and executive positions. In the food and beverage sector, Barber has worked for organizations such as Procter & Gamble, the Pepsi-Cola Co., Hot Stuff Foods [image-nocss] Lettieri's, Foodbuy and Manitowoc Beverage Systems.
Most recently, Barber spent four years with Hot Stuff Foods Lettieri's, the franchisor of convenience stores' "On the Go" food concepts, in several executive positions, including chief customer officer, executive vice president of sales and marketing and executive vice president of development. During his tenure, he led the team in adding more than 400 new franchise and licensed locations, expanded new business channels and licensed locations and launched a new licensing concept called "Hot Stuff Xpress."
Barber also spent three years as vice president of development and client services for Foodbuy LLC, a group purchasing organization, 13 years with Pepsi-Cola Co., most recently as vice president of marketing equipment management, and three years with Procter & Gamble as a unit manager.
"John is an accomplished foodservice executive who brings a wealth of experience, passion and enthusiasm to FOCUS Brands," said CEO Russ Umphenour. "His ability to build relationships, translate customer insight and strategic planning into progressive sales initiatives and develop top-producing teams that boost overall profitability makes him a terrific addition to our team."
Atlanta-based FOCUS Brands is the franchisor and operator of more than 3,300 ice cream shops, bakeries, restaurants and cafes in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 50 foreign countries under the brand names Carvel Cinnabon, Schlotzsky's, Moe's Southwest Grill and Auntie Anne's Pretzels, as well as the franchisor of Seattle's Best Coffee on certain military bases and in certain international markets.
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